


Violet and the Twin Things 2 and 1

by LegionLight, MisterSeason (LegionLight)



Category: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Main Genre: Family, Will include self-made cover art in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-09-02 07:24:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16782346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegionLight/pseuds/LegionLight, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegionLight/pseuds/MisterSeason
Summary: Amidst staying within the confines of a garbage container, one of the four brats who left Willy Wonkas' factory punished; Violet Beauregarde, discovers an odd wooden hatch. She means to just open it up, and peak at what lies behind the lid, but she ends up falling right on in. After enduring a long fall, and a short period coma, she wakes up in a new world with twin Things willing to care for her.As the days leading to Christmas go by, negative feelings, alongside reveals of downcasted behavior and buried memories surface for Violet. Seeing this, Things 2 and 1 wish to lend her help in finding positivity. And in turn, she may be able to help them out with their own present difficulties. It'll all depend on the availability of achieving great acceptance, concerning the kindness for others, and the kindness for ones' self.





	1. Violet Beauregarde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long while of having inner debates and cycling thoughts, I've decided that this idea of mine deserves to be created. Even though it means seriously halting my other stories, I want to write out this special idea and cross over. So here we are with "Violet and the Twin Things 2 and 1". It's certainly a strange combination of characters, but I full-heartily believe it can work. And so without further ado, I'll let the beginning of this story unfold.

In all instances where one person or more might look upon snow, certain feelings would surge forth in one-to-many ways. At the least of times, disgust or admiration would flow past turning-cold lips. At other times, facial expressions ranging from deep frowns to wide grins, would be formed. And at most times, physical contact involving stomps to simplistic steps, and gloved hands lightly touching or shooting through a mound, would be the chosen type of mood display toward winters' natural weather.

Regarding the stance of Violet Beauregarde, she didn't make herself feel nothing but indifferent. In fact, as she uncaring about the waves of sleet she was passing under, she was also uncaring about a number of things. She did not bother to open her mouth to substitute breathing for her clogged nostrils, even if a urge to yell were to prod her tongue. She did not bother to give a care to how she was dragging her feet, even if her exposed ankles had to constantly endure high levels of cold. And she did not bother to shove her bare hands into her jackets' pockets, even if their freezing state caused some amounts of irritating hurt.

As Violet forced her shivering self through the 30° temperature, it was the last day of November. Several days had pasted since the Beauragarde girl had began being on her own. Every day since then, she'd always tread down and around four-to-six city blocks, via alleyways and street crossings. After she'd reach the crossing block limit, she would set out looking for some shelter to spend the night in. She allowed herself to stay in any place that offered some stable roof and walls, only if she was alone in a full manner. Her success on finding any such places, came in the forms of one long abandoned store, and multiple dumpsters with and without contained garbage.

Currently, she had finally made it through the second city block. Two cars nearly collided with her, and each other, as she crossed the street. After she passed on over, the agitated sounds of car horns tried to cast shame onto her. She succeeded in not paying any mind, as she now stood in front of one certain building. While the glass windows and glass slide doors showed no lights on within, a glance up at the giant labeling plastered above, was all she needed to identify what type of place it is.

A Gym, a singular building of a few containing exercise facilities. If someone wanted to lose some pounds, dish out built up stress productively, or just maintain their fitness, this was the place to go. It was free to any mature, decently behaved man or woman. And despite what some people would think, any judgements any person could make weren't spoken, as a Gym was not a social hub.

As the Beauregarde girl stared at the Gyms' name, a flicker of a frown tainted her lips. Her eyes then opted to glare, with her hands rising up. With a strong and sudden pull, she yanked the black beanie donning her head down. She was able to make it reach her eyebrows, and decided to leave the brimless cap there. Then after she deconstructed her glare into a neutral expression, she gave the whole building before her a few seconds left of a stare. Once those seconds came and went, she turned leftward and pressed on.

While Violet let her hands twitch against her sides, she passed by a line of stores. After reading off the first two signs placed above their individual doors, she gave the rest of the following stores quick glances. Although she could barely make out what each distant sign had for a title, Violet took a guess and averted her eyes by looking down. She proceeded on walking like that, not daring to lift her sight from her shoes. It was due to her identifying very certain words, in which gave some idea to what the stores had for food stock, as well as striking some sensitive strings of her mood.

Each step she took passing by one store to the other, was given further strength. She started out with simple, restrained steps leaving normal shoe marks. Along the way her steps turned into purposeful pulling limps, letting the tips and sides of her footwear brush against ground. By the time she reached the last store, her feet resorted to rapid-paced stomps, with an occasional dragged kick launching a wall of snow up into the air. And throughout the risen anger fit, even with some bits of snow having flown onto her face, she held back every ounce of vile sounds behind a vibrating mouth.

Some time after passing those stores and taking a right turn, Violet ceased her stomps, and had finally raised her head back up to see where she was going. She locked her eyes onto the nearby entry point of a alleyway, setting it as her next destination. Making her steps start treading rightward, she gave her immediate environment a swift look-around. The falling ice crystals were beginning to descend at a faster pace. The large building she was walking by, seemed to be mostly formed into a mound by the weather. And as her field of vision was starting to worsen, the road and every establishment lying across the street were becoming unrecognizable.

Seeing such sights had made Violet divert most of her focus. She was so drawn to watching the shift from normal snowfall to apparent blizzard that, when her foot suddenly slipped forward, she was fully taken aback. She could only react with wildly thrown out, shaking arms and a yelp before she was sent flying. And then as she landed on her back, a crumpled crunch sounded out from beneath her.

Rolling over with a fist hitting the ground, the Beauregarde girl looked toward the spot she landed. The cause of the crunching sound, as well as her slipping, was a mostly snow covered round arrangement of leaves and twisted flowers. Grabbing the curious circle with a knuckles-baring grip, she brought it closer to get a better viewing. Little broken lights were entwined deeply within the leaves, which were on the brink of death alongside the dry red flowers. It took her a few thought-prodding seconds until she recognized it as a long disposed, broken-spirit Christmas wreath. While the sight of it would make some others either feel sorrow or plain nothing, Violet let her glare reform for a moment. And then she returned to her feet, tossing the stupid-slid causing creation aside.

Forcing her her mouth to stay shut, she hurried on over to the alleyway. Once she entered the narrow passage, she paced through the most of it until she saw a left wall-positioned dumpster. After she gave the heavy snowstorm weather a contemplating stare, she groaned. Then she pressed her palm against her scalp, and hurried on over to the dumpster. She wasn't going to dare go marching through the storm.

Driving her left arm into the snow covering the large trash receptacle, Violet slid it back and forth to clear the ice matter off. Once she had gotten enough off for her to see the wide lid, she directed her trembling fingers to the latches keeping the lid fully closed. After the lockless latches were lifted, she maneuvered over to the side. While there was some difficulty faced in the task, the Beauregarde girl was able to raise the lid up. As she pushed the lid back toward the wall as far as she could, her dark tinted gaze peered into the dumpsters' interior. All that laid inside was a singular black trash bag, and it didn't take up any space beyond half length.

Finding this to be acceptable, Violet kept one hand holding the lid up as the other grabbed the dumpsters' edge. Then she slowly brought herself over the dumpsters' wall, and set herself down while letting the lid lower bit-by-bit. As her strength to hold the hinged cover began to stress, her free hand was sent diving into her jackets' small compartments. Upon searching through a half of the four pockets, she had pulled out a short but thick wooden stick. She placed the stick on the outline edge, and held it there as she slowly lowered the lid as much as possible. When her hand strength gave away, the lid only fell a few inches, causing the stick to barely be dented and for it to stay in place.

Letting out a long, mostly relieved breath, the pre-teen ran her hands through all pockets. Items that she had previously ignored, along with others she hadn't touched so far that day and since a week or two, were brought out one by one. She set them down into forming a long line. Then as she set her eyes on each individual item, she brought them up close to for examining. All that she had on her person was: Two flimsy dollars, an almost finished up protein bar, a crunched up empty plastic bottle, a butter knife, a small box of matches containing only some in number, and a candle placed in a small rounded cup and covered by a protective blue wrapping.

After doing the quick count and check of her belongings, she went on to push everything but the candle, butter knife, and box of matches back against the wall. Once that was done, she easily removed the candles' wrapping and set the paper aside. Then she opened the box of matches, pulled out one of the slender pieces of wood, and struck the red tip across the side of the box. As the flame sparked to life, it was directed over to the recently inserted, new tiny wick. Once the fire lit the wick, she pulled the match over and blew it out.

Now having two lights, instead of just the outside world peering in, Violet picked up the butter knife. After she carefully brought the trash bag to her, she stuck the knife into the near-top part of it. She proceeded to pull the silverware piece over to the left, adding force to the action by pressing her clenched palm against the steel. Then she sharply yanked the knife down, making the cut-through plastic flap out to the right. The gathered crushed cans, spoiled seeming foods, and other junk associated items were revealed to her. After she made sure to push the candle away some spaces, the dark haired girl did not hesitate, and launched her equally shaded hands into the pile.

All that she focused on was the food. For every piece of edible material that she got her hands on, she would determine if each piece still had some gold nature for eating. For most of the food, one long good look was all that was needed. For the least pieces of food, some small tasting bites were required. And at the end of her checking, she unfortunately discovered that everything was rotten and spoiled.

Making herself only huff in disappointment, and not give into the low urge of sating her hunger by eating garbage, Violet placed all of the waste-food back into the bag. She then pushed the bag back until it met the far wall. Knowing that it was all she had for the night, the protein bar was grabbed and raised up. Laying a hand underneath the bar, she shook the mostly silver-colored covering. What came out was a measly, flat chocolate coated square. She easily plopped it into her mouth, let it sit on top of her tongue for a while, and then began chewing down on it.

The bitter-sweet taste that started harboring her mouth, made Violet lean her head back against the dumpster wall. A feeling of utter unpleasantness had surged from each miniature bite she took. When the feeling grew to the point where it was beyond bothering, she rested her right palm against her forehead. While the cold air that flew into the dumpster lashed at her exposed skin, a whole other problem rose up in her brain. Terrible experiences and memories were remembered vividly, which caused her lips to quiver and her irises to blink rapidly.

As she started to swallow the crushed pieces of her only meal, the lonesome girl pushed her legs out. Her whole body started shaking. Her fingers began bending, letting their nails scratch at both her forehead, and at the air. Frustration that was held behind a mouth she forcefully kept shut, was leaking out in the form of growing loud breaths and mumbles. And her face, which had shown expressions containing little-to-some levels of her emotions, was now emitting every ounce in all corners.

Amidst her display of previously locked down feelings, she had lifted her foot up and immediately brought it down. Setting her sights on the trembling leg that was standing, Violet let her mouth spread and form a actual frown. She raised the foot and slammed it right back down. Then she did it again, and again, and continued to do so for many moments. Unlike the progression from walking to stomping, the weight she each foot slam was fully coming out from her. There were no restraints, no pull backs, and no automatic inner attempt of disregard. She was pissed, very close to being livid, and needed to release those feelings here and now.

The duration of the many foot slams reached its end when something peculiar transpired. The last fast lowering of her foot to the dumpster floor, was twisted into being a sliding kick barring her heel. Once the foot dropped and the kick happened, the repeatedly hit section of the floor, suddenly slid off to the side. Seeing this immediately, she stopped her foot slams and let out a confused noise. Slowly she scooted herself over to the loose floor piece, instinctively putting the box of matches and dollars away in her jacket. When she reached the piece, she pulled her legs back in order to sit cross-legged, and then used her hands to push the floor piece aside as far as she could.

What lied underneath was a red shaded, wooden square hatch. It was slightly open, and had bright color lights peaking out. It was essentially embedded into the ground, and the mystery of why made Violet become shortly troubled. She had started to lower her hands toward it, but stopped herself before she could open it. There was however, a powerful genuine warmth emitting from the hatch. It was due to that warmth, one that her hands desperately needed, that she inched her fingers closer to the separation line between hatch and lid. And then with a deep intake of air filling her nostrils, she pulled the lid up and looked down into hatch.

There was many entwining swirls, extended thorns and zigzags, and twirling lines that would form temporary tree branches. They all had sketch patterns that constructed their shapes and lengths. Within and surrounding each sketch line, two or more of a few spectacular colors were present. Said colors were the many kind tints and shades of: red, white, black, blue, green, and yellow. And while they seemed to float about freely, there was a long spiral section of descending cloud-like columns, leading to some small and far red shape.

Instinctively grabbing her butter knife and gently bringing the candle up, the intrigued Beauregarde leaned down. She tried to make out the far red shape, squinting her eyes in an effort. But despite her taken tries, she couldn't fathom what unmoving shape it was. Irritation stirred up her anger right back up, in which made her lean herself more downward. Then before she could notice it, her knife wielding hand knocked itself against the lifted hatch lid, causing it to shot down onto her. That motion, combined with a surging gravitational pull the hole passage was giving out, made the girl fall right in.

The experience of rapidly decent was like skydiving. Fun for some, fear-driving for others. By her emerged screams and frantic swinging limbs, Violet was outright frightened. Each column or sketched shape that she shot towards, made critical terror spread throughout her body. Even as she phased through each dual collection of red and white, and black and blue, superior chills to that of snow enveloped her whole body. And as she plunged closer to the now telling shape of another hatch, the forming heat was giving her unbearable pains to counter the cold.

It wasn't before long the girl crashed into the easily open-able hatch. As the lid simply flipped up, her body shot up into the air. She twisted around whilst shrieking for dear life, catching swift glimpses of only white and black. Then she met the ground face-first with a thud. And for some moments, she remained in that planted position.

With her body being weak with misery, she could almost move nothing. The only limb that she could manage to move was her head. So with a short motion to raise and tilt it, she allowed her watery eyes to see where she was. All that she could make out was black, if not dark-brown trees, along with many placements of soft falling snow. A forest, with no path going forward from her prone body.

Violet Beauregarde dropped her head and pressed it against the snow ground. A few hiccups left her mouth, with tears sliding away from her eyes. She lay there, not knowing what to do or how to remedy this. Seconds passed by, then minutes, and soon a hour. Within such time, the sorrowful girls' overbearing exhaustion forced her to slumber. And thus the falling snow began to cover her up.

As she lay there in comatose, a small furred rodent had appeared from the leftward wood, and jumped onto her. It tapped at her beanie-worn head, and then squeaked. No sooner after it did, three more of its kind came from the same direction. And after them came the crunching of boots, belonging to two tall, hooded males

The first rodent left the girls' back, and hopped down onto the ground to join the others. Now as the four cream furred troop gathered some feet away, they watched as the two males approached the unconscious girl. They crouched down, and then started swiping off the snow covering her back. Then after one of them turned her over, they stopped all movement. The sight of girls' face, hands, and ankles being purple-skinned struck up puzzled expressions. Just as they quickly came however, they were gone with one of two males nudging the other urgently.

As the male with a backpack donning his back nodded, the male with a button sticking to his chest lowered his ear. He let it hover above her mouth, waiting to hear a breath. When he heard her breathe, he proceeded to raise the girls' upper body. He placed his left arm underneath, followed by his right being set behind her knees. Then with a easy stand up, the button wearer brought the unconscious girl up in his arms. He exchanged glances with the backpack-wearer, who had gave the group of quadruple rodents some appreciation treats. Then they looked to the 'hatch', and then to her. And once they made their gazes meet again, they both nodded.

As the backpack wearer started walking over to the 'hatch', the button wearer turned right around. And with no delay he darted off, hurrying back through the woods from whence they came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit Update 5/18: I changed a few of the words and wording, meaning to help improve the flow.


	2. The Twin Things

As she stirred awake after some long time, Violet didn't move any muscle at first. Surprising softness in the form of a pillow, sat beneath her head. Both the blanket that resided above her resting form, and the mattress that she was lying on, created consoling comfort. The smell of a sweet, fresh apple cinder coming from the right, provided a wondrous want for a drink over a mandatory need. And then there was the constant sound flow of a clock ticking, along with delightful animal squeaks that came from some inches away, in which produced a pleasant hearing experience.

Once she took all of that in, she finally let her eyes open and made her limbs move. She rose up into sitting, slowly turning her head in the direction of the apple scent. When she saw the thin, long glass cup filled with juice positioned on a small table at her bedside, her pupils grew wide. She had started reaching out for it, and the note that was attached to the bottom. But she stopped herself, deciding that she should look around at the new shelter she found herself in.

She was in one of two beds, hers being on the left while the other was on the right. What donned the floor underneath the beds was a wide-spread carpet, having the deepest ocean aqua as a hue. All of the four walls shared similar half beige, half grass-green backgrounds, with there being abstract: trees, flowers, shading of bright white sunlight, far drawn hills, and fruit being sprouted from the ground and hanging from branches. While there was only one black-wooden window to look through, it showed a grand view of the winter forestland outside, along with the visible presence of a squirrel sitting on the outside windowsill. And the ceiling held two round lights, along with both straight and crooked patterns of dotted lines, containing pavement paints of grey and close to the sky's natural blue.

Such a collection of colors, and of illustrations environments that would match any summers' day, was a pair of somethings that Violet kept her sight trained on. The same could be said for the beds, the presence of actual complete pieces of other furniture, and the warmth solidarity that the whole room held. She gave each seeable inch a second, third, and/or fourth look. It had been a long while since she has seen a bedroom, along with some representation of a bright sunny day.

Feeling that her has-been sleeping limbs were awaking, Violet slowly slid her legs across until they were pulled over the beds' edge. Sitting up in a more straighter manner, she let her feet hang. She looked back to the glass of apple juice, and then to the note. Despite the urging of her taste buds, she grabbed a hold of the note. And then with a simplistic pull, the tape attaching it to the drink was disconnected, and the note was opened.

Being out-out in the cold would cause anyone one to freeze. Therefore you're free to drink this drink as much as you please. And once you're ready walk, we'll be downstairs waiting to talk! -T1 AND T2.

Although the rhyming present was weird to her, along with many questions being raised in her head, the free glass of juice caught her immediate attention. She set the note aside, and at first just let her gaze remain fixated. Then with a hesitant, trembling hand, she reached out to the glass. Once she wrapped her fingers around the cup, she slowly brought it back towards her. She gave the note a glance, then sent two more to the two separate mint-themed doors. Seeing and hearing no opening movement, she looked down to the juice containing no ice.

Taking a stuffed breath, she raised the drink to her lips and took a sip. Right after letting the taste tickle her tongue, her eyes widened incredibly. Before she could even swallow said sip, she threw her head back. She swiftly poured the rest of the apple cider into her mouth. Then she let all of the juice sit, making her cheeks blow up, as well as causing every ounce of sweetness to be sucked out. And then, once nothing but the liquid form of plain apple remained, it was aloud to go down her throat.

As she automatically put the cup back onto the small table, Violet let her astonishment silently light up every feature of her face. She gently rubbed her thumb against her lips. She gathered the tiny remnants of leaked juice together, before she went on to lick it all off her thumb. The deliciousness of this juice was something she hadn't tasted in a long while. So she made sure to consume, and quietlycherish every bit.

Once that was done, Violet stood up from the bed. Before she would go down whatever amounts of stairs, and meet whoever brought her here, she looked down at her clothing. Her jacket, long jeans, and shoes were missing. All that remained in their place was: the comfortable but ugly stale green sweater she'd been wearing for days, the awful brown skirt that she torn several times in disgust, and a normal pair of socks that she was fine on wearing. While the disappearance of her winter-appropriate clothing struck her as uncomfortable, Violet had to settle for this old outfit she'd been wearing.

After picking up the note and keeping it in her left-hand grasp, she gave the noticeable dual dressers and wardrobes thoughtful glances. Although she thought about walking over and searching through them for better clothes, she ultimately decided against that. She might get whoever brought her here angry, and that wouldn't be good at all for her. She's had enough experience with seeing anger to know that being on the receiving end, was a situation she never wanted to endure. So she kept herself away from the clothing containers, and then turned her focus to the two separate doors leading out.

She made a simple guess for which one lead to the stairs, and went on to open up said guess door. What lied on the other side was a length short hallway. While two other doors were connected to the opposite wall, the left and right turning paths lead off to two different destinations. To the left lied a supposed dead end and window, while the right lead to a descending stairway. Violet gave the puff dotted walls and sunny sky ceiling odd looks. And then after she let her gaze linger on the two other doors, she proceeded to head down to the floor below.

Once her feet left the dark oak stairs, and met the brown-blonde wooden ground floor, Violet was left to be stumped. Vibrant yellows stretched out from upper and lower corners of walls, in which peacefully resided high and low against mismatched red and black checker squares, and seemingly endless lines of whirling fence illustrations. Up above, besides there being short crescent-shaped lights that gave off wide illumination, a calm wave of glossy monochrome was spread out. And while there were three paved directions to go, a near 6-foot street post having miniature finger-pointing glove hands, had vertical oval signs telling which way lead to what.

The way Violet came from lead to the bedrooms, and a music chamber. Going right would lead to the laundromat, and to the supposed inventing basement. Going left would lead to the reading den, and to the sport 'arena'. And going forward would lead to the kitchen, dining and living rooms, front door, and a four-fingered glove fist knocking on the wall.

Being bewildered by seeing the sudden appearing fist, Violet rubbed her eyes believing that she was hallucinating. When she was proven wrong by a rhythmic set of more knocks, she took a few advancing steps and tried squinting her eyes. But then as the fist stuck out two fingers in her direction, she halted. A flurry of motions flew about: pointed gestures flinging toward her, the leftward room from where the fist emerged, and then a calling welcome with all fingers kindly pulling back. And then once the fist gave the wall one more knock, it proceeded to swipe itself back into the room, with a flow of swift taps of shoes and slaps of hands following after.

Walking at an uneasy pace, Violet headed toward the doorway. However as she grew closer, she had to slow her speed. A savory, fresh scent of melted butter and warm like-bread had met her nose. Such a long-gone familiar, and now-more foreign standing pair of scents, were a delight to intake. Although she was disappointingly unsure on what was food being cooked.

Firstly peaking her head past the doorway, Violet looked in to see the contents of a dining area, and a rather distant kitchen. There was a burgundy table that was set off a bit to the left, with three sets of silverware set up. Along the walls going toward the kitchen, there was a few pictures of singular dishes that might drive anyone a little hungry. Within the seeable and long width breath of a kitchen, one individual was working away at the stove. The individual's height was near that of the hands-street post, their hair was blue and sticking outward in mostly upward directions, and their lively movements whilst cooking gave off clear enjoyment.

A want to call out to the cooking individual made Violet open her mouth. But moments before sound could be uttered, she stopped herself. An uncomfortable expression shut down the thought of talking, and she resorted to making her way over to the table. And instead of pulling out a chair and sitting, she stayed standing with hands gradually being planted against her sides.

A clatter of spoon and spatula from the apron wearer caught Violets' focus. The cooking individual then slid to the right, having arms be held still off to the left. Then the blue haired being, grabbing a hold of the only plate covered by food, strolled backwards until they passed by the kitchen counter. For a seconds they slightly moved their knees up and down, and had their back facing the Beauregarde girl.

Then unexpectedly, the plate housing a light-brown flat cake was thrown up! The action made Violet start reaching her arm out. But then the other, still free hand was raised palm up, and caught the plate with ease. Four back-jogging steps were taken, and the plate thrown up again. Before Violet could move any muscle, the individual fell back to the floor. To her surprise, they held their feet up, while their hands pressed themselves to the ground. And again with ease, the plate was caught.

Once the plate was gently maneuvered onto on shoes' bottom, it was sent flying into the air again. The individual with stunning flexibility, flipped back up into standing and held both hands out. Just as the dish had landed, one shoes' tip were lowered and met the ground straightly. Then the individual began to twirl around, going about over and over until they were full on spinning. Amongst the repeated revolving that'd make anyone dizzy, the individual neared Violet by walking, in which was brought on by the between switching of tips of toes. And with each three inches they got closer, the plate was forced to soar again and again, landing upon hands that were stretched out and pulled inward repeatedly.

Only when the Individual was mere feet away from her, did a mistake occur. The force put behind the next toss, made the plate and flat cake flip away. Acting quickly without having no gained wobbliness, the blue haired individual stop spinning and sprinted. Then they stomped their feet to a halt, turned right around, and hopped up in quick flash. First the cake was caught, and then the plate. And as they spun around with back facing first, they placed the flat cake onto the dish, and back-jogged with haste.

The individual twisted back to facing the purple skinned girl, crouching in the meanwhile, and waved a hand in greeting while holding the plate out. Thus fully revealing their curious facial features. Dark orange/brown irises resided in round-shaped eyes. Black thick eyebrows sat atop said eyes. A thin, short nose with a pointy button-like tip, was settled up in a height close to the lower eye sockets then any humans' would be. And then there was the scary, non-existent presence of no upper-lip that created a wide chilling grin.

If one were to compare that last facial detail, with the middle sized normal lower-lip that created a friendly smile, some similar semblance of a terror expression matching Violets' could form. Having very wide eyes, mouth, and close-to still movement from all facial features. And concerning how her body was handling this, she was as still as a statue made out of hard rock. She didn't know how to move, what to say, or how to even function at this blue haired male.

Unlike her however, he knew what to exactly do. After raising and then leaning his body over to set the plate down, he did a swift 180°. He seemed to take a long breath, letting his gloved hands fall to his sides. Then after a loud pop he turned back around, holding his hand out while showing that he now has a upper lip.

The intended effect of soothing her fear seemed to somewhat work. While Violet almost jumped, the terror that was present slowly diminished. What took place upon her face was bewilderment, an emotion more better then fear. In that state of feeling confusion, Violet was able to accept the offered hand by grasping it. And then the two brought both hands up and down, the male being more energized then her by a mile.

After blinking his right and then left eye systematically, he nodded his head toward the plate. Once Violet gave it a glance, she become more confused. At her scrunching expression, he moved around her and walked to the near table-end chair. He patted it, then the edge of the plate, and pointed to her. Surprise drove away her confusion, with one twitchy index finger being directed at herself for reaffirmation. At his solid nod, she paced over to the chair, while he went back to his previous crouched spot.

As Violet pulled the chair out and sat down in it, he shocked her with a sudden backward cartwheel. Then a following backflip channeled visual amazement, with two more acrobatic movements furthering her stunned state. But when he was supposedly done, the jolted astonishment was made to share space with curiosity. The blue haired male had reached behind a short column, and pulled out a unopen syrup bottle.

Her eyes trailed the shaking motions he put the bottle through. Then once it was placed next to her plate, she watched wordlessly as the cap was twisted off, and the plastic circle covering was removed. When he placed the cap back on, he gave her a thumbs up. Without waiting to if she'd give a reply, he hightailed it back to the kitchen and went back to cooking.

As Violet eyed the syrup bottle, something was dropped down to the side of her seat. Looking over, she took in a deep breath and gulped. While the appearance of a strange white colored, squared basket was strange, the metallic three pronged arm that hovered over it was frightening. Leaning herself to the right with her body attempting to not shake, she followed the arms' length to the source. What she saw standing in the doorway, was another blue haired male. Although he shared all facial features as the first, he was wearing a red visible sweater showing a stomach placed white 1. And most importantly he had a metal backpack on, with four long arms extended from the sides.

Once his eyes met hers, he glanced to the basket. When she didn't dare turn away, he silently sighed. Then he wrapped his gloved hands around one of two joysticks, specifically sprung out from the inner side of his backpack handles, and pressed down on one side button of two on said joystick. With a simple tug, the arm looming close to Violet retreated and hovered near its operator.

As he once again glanced to the basket, adding in the tilt of his head for extra direction of attention, Violet decided to then follow. Peering down into the baskets' interior, there was an recognizable article of clothing, as well as two items she thought were missing. There were her jacket being neatly folded, the candle in the cup, and her box of matches. Thinking ahead that maybe her jeans were underneath the jacket, she reached down and pulled the corner of the garment. And sure enough, her jeans AND her black beanie were lying beneath.

The loud clapping of hands drew Violets' sight to the kitchen. Emerging from the kitchen with tapping feet, the first of the two blue haired males she had seen emerged. He carried two plates, one harboring each hand. As he headed to the table, the backpack wearer marched to the seat left of Violet. Using one of his metal arms, he pulled the seat aside. Then as he slowly sat, he used another appendage to push the chair in. Seeing as the two other plates were meant for them both, the backpack wearer let another arm move toward the other male. The plates were hauled away some inches from the beckoning, three claw-like digits, with a risen brow indicating a mute question.

A short wait played out between them both. When it became clear no answer was coming from the backpack wearer, the cook of the two shrugged. He then held the plates forward, letting the metal digits wrap around the top-placed one. He watched as the dish was set down with ease, with him doing the same with his own. Then he swiftly took the apron off showing that he and the other were wearing near-matching sweaters, the only difference being that his bore a white 2. And with a strong tug and leap, the chair to Violets' right was pulled out and quickly occupied.

With his flat palm, the cook of the two males pressed down on the equally sized, red button with cream lettering that spelled out: Good Job. Not much longer then some deft moments later, did a grown friendly voice of a man sound off from the button. **"Good Job Son!"** Hearing that, the cook of two held up two thumbs, while the backpack wearer seemed to flinch. Then they both turned to the purple-skinned girl, the former of them reaching deep into his left sleeve. He produced a very long and thin roll of paper, and didn't wait in revealing what its single page held.

Do you prefer Chocolate, Strawberry, Apple, Orange juice, or no second refreshment this morning?

Underneath that question, was 4 illustrated drinks with differing colors, and then a X representing the option of 'No'. It didn't take long for her to point to the X. At her choice the cook of the two nodded, and did away with the paper roll by throwing it over his shoulder. Then he exchanged a knowing look with his twin, who gave the table two metal pats.

Reaching into their right sleeves, thin sets notecards kept together by dual rubber bands. Once the rubber bands were tugged off, the twins held the notecards outward. They let Violet read their worded contents. And after each pair of cards was read, the sets were shuffled to expose the next card in line.

T1: I'm 'Thing 1'. T2: He's Thing 1.

T1: He's Thing 2. T2: Thing 2.

T1&T2: And we welcome you to our home!

T1: You were unconscious for a day. T2: So we thought to stir you a drink.

T1: A drink that is free of pay. T2: And would be as warm to the brink.

T1: We don't know where you're from. T2: Or who you are.

T1: So please introduce yourself. T2: So we can know the name of this purple girl who's bizarre.

They patted and tapped the table in sync, and tilted their heads to the sides in kind. They sat patiently, staring at the girl who slowly looked from 1 to 2, and then 2 to 1. As silence gained more and more moments of a presence, the smiles the twins bore had shrunken. They shrunk and shrunk until their lips formed thin lines. And then they lifted their heads to stand upright, having expressions showing concern.

Indifference, neutrality, and somberness. Every inch of the girls' previously expressing face, showed no sign of goodness or badness. Seeing such a sight, while it confused Thing 2 more then Thing 1, didn't faze him into just looking. He opted to show his next, solely whim-made notecard to confirm a possibility.

Can you speak? The sluggish nod from her spun his lip corners up. Then he showed the next card. If yes, why aren't you saying anything? When he got no reply beyond blinking eyes, he let a few cards fall onto the table. Are you nervous? Afraid of us? Maybe you're just speechless? The multiple written guesses were given nothing but blinks.

Setting his cards down, he looked to Thing 1 to see he did the same. Their worry-prompted expressions matched, with lips lowering slightly at her display of quietness. Thing 1 raised one metal arm up, and brought it over to the syrup bottle. The trio of triangle-forming digits grabbed the bottles' neck, lifted the container, and then placed it next to Violets' plate.

Once the arm was retracted, Thing 2 directed his left hand to the bottle. While his right hand dug back into his left sleeve, he popped the upper half of the bottles' cap off. Then with a joyous yank, a pizza cutter was produced from the sleeve. With swift speed, it was sat on top of the flat cake.

After Thing 2 gestured to the food, he and Thing 1 waited again. The wait wasn't long, as Violet lowered her indifferent showing face toward the flat cake. Her fingers then shakenly took hold of not the pizza cutter, but the side resting fork. The four pronged utensil was inserted into the edge of the flat cake. And with a sudden thrust up, the slimmest piece of pancake was detached from the whole.

As she inserted the tiny bit into her mouth, the twin Things watched her with newfound curiosity. Then as she chewed up the miniscule fragment, a second glimmer of a smile was formed. Just a second glimmer, before her lips snapped back into forming a short neutral line. After she swallowed her first bite, she went ahead and got another of the same size, using the same speed.

Violet Beauregarde ate like a girl unsure if she was allowed to eat, even after she was happily welcomed to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit Update 5/18: Changed and removed a few sentences and words.


	3. Card Talks

Throughout all of breakfast, no words were spoken and no other notecards were shown. The only source of communication that came, were the occasional glances between the twins, and the lingered looks sent to the dull eating girl. While for sound, there was just the slight lowered presses of forks meeting strong glass. The silence was more then just an 'awkward' turnout. For Things 2 and 1, it was troubling and unpleasant. For her however, she didn't seem to mind it at all.

After the twins were done eating, Thing 1 got up and went out into the hall. When he came back, he placed another laundry basket at the girls' side. Clapping two of his four metal arms together, he directed her attention to the new basket. He drew out a lone card from his sleeve and held it out. T1: We don't know your exact size in height or weight, so we picked out some clothes that could fit you. A nice shower is recommended, so the cold from outdoors can be undoed.

A spark of astonishment in her face, and a short nod was all she gave. Seeing this, Thing 1 went onward to pick up his and Thing 2s' plates. Then he paced over to the kitchen to wash. That left Thing 2 with the task to show where the bathroom was to the purple girl. Of course that would happen if she'd either finish the whole pancake, or stop after eating up the first eighth of it.

Nevertheless he pulled out a pen, wrote on one of the blank cards he had, and asked her if she wanted to shower. Although her stomach rumbled for more, she dropped her fork and left her seat with ease. Upon seeing the next card written question regarding Thing 2 being a guide, she gave him a forward nod. Then as she managed to lift the first laundry basket, Thing 2 picked up the second and lead the way. He brought her back to the bedroom, or more specifically his and Thing 1s' bedroom. He pointed to the door located off to the side, and had opened it up for her by holding the knob down with a raised foot.

Once the baskets were set down separately, on top of a eloquent toilet lid and aside a sink faucet, Thing 2 quickly jotted down how to work the shower and left. He jogged back down the stairs, and then joined Thing 1 in the living room. As the purple girl showered upstairs, the twins underwent a conversation with gestures. Thing 1 demonstrated his uncertainty by rapidly tapping his three-pronged 'hands' together, and then he'd waved them about air-illustrating the present talking problem. Thing 2 attempted to provide relief by rocketing his hands up, along with dismissively shaking a sole finger at Thing 1s' labelling of problem. While it would seem like an argument would transpire, their conversation remained an honest discussion using multiple hand motions.

Some minutes passed by until the purple girl had come down from the second floor, and reluctantly walked into the living room. In place of the awful skirt and stale sweater, she wore her recently ironed jeans, and a more brighter sweater containing a shade of sapphire blue. Laying above her held together palms was: her jacket, beanie, shoes, and the towel used to dry herself. Her dark, scattered bob hair had multiple droplets of water dripping. And while lines rolled down her forehead, she didn't bat any eye at feeling a few faintly touch her eyelids.

Thing 2 had pulled a lengthy cushion up from the only ruby-hue patterned couch, and placed it on the oval table set in front of said couch. Thing 1 meanwhile, made two of the four metal appendages go forth. He held them near the mixed stack, and then used them to make a request of the girl. While she didn't fully understand the sign language usage, she took a guess and held her stacked clothing out. Pressing themselves on the stack from the top and bottom, the arms were called back. Along the way Thing 2 slid under them. As the arms set the stack onto the cushion, Thing 2 jumped to his feet. And then with ecstatic legs, pulled a side-positioned roller chair back until it was set before the table.

As his twin retracted his steps by flipping, Thing 1 brought out a blank and larger deck of notecards, opposed to the ones from before. Once the rubber band was undone, he and Thing 2 sat down onto the couch. Then he set one-third of the deck onto the table. After that he split the rest of the notecards into two smaller decks. He kept one half for himself, and gave the other to Thing 2. And after sending his hands digging into his pockets, he produced three gingerbread-themed pens.

Once she walked over and sat on the roller chair, a pen was sent rolling her way. She picked it up and sent the deck meant for her a puzzled look. Then she looked to the twins, seeing that Thing 2 was the first of the two to write.

T2: We were just discussing how to talk, when the suggestion to give you a pen and cards came out. Are you fine with this turnabout?

Biting on her lower lip behind a closed mouth, she gave a nod. Then Thing 1 wrote away, taking up a near minute more then Thing 2 when it came to the process.

T1: Since you know who we are, we'd like to know about you. Instead of thinking of you as the bizarre purple girl, we'd like to know your name in part to your mood being unusually blue.

Setting her fingertips along the edge of the top card, she tugged it from the deck. Placing it against the table, she pressed the pens' head against the highest teal line. She hesitated, causing her hands to shake. But she pushed all first-coming thoughts aside, and wrote away. When she was done, she held the card up facing the twins, revealing her mostly sloppy handwriting.

V: My name is Violet Beauregarde.

As Thing 1 and him raised their eyebrows in interest, Thing 2 let his smile grow. T2: It's nice to meet you, and to now know your name Violet.

T1: Were you named that because of your skin? If so, then your namers committed a naming sin.

Thing 2 slapped his hands together, then gave Thing 1 a criticizing look. The first Thing in turn made the four, operable limbs shrug. Thing 2 shook his head, instead opting to wipe his forehead with his knuckles. When they both turned their sights back to Violet, she had provided an honest reply.

V: I wasn't called Violet because of that. I don't want to talk about it, or about my 'namers'.

T2: If you don't wish to discuss such subjects, we won't force you to reveal any specifics. Thing 2 held a hand up, preventing his twin and Violet from writing. He turned his current card around to face him again. Then he set it down, scribbling on an extra line. Once that was done, he pulled the card back up and twisted it. Before we ask you another question, would you accept in playing a game? At the girls' squinted confusion and his twins' side glance, Thing 2 elaborated. When we ask you a question and you give an answer, you can ask a question and we'll provide an answer. It might not be a game to many, but to us it brings fun a plenty.

Violet had to take many long moments to think about that. As she gave the corner of her card some stipple marks, she rubbed her lips together in difficulty. While turmoil was not shown in her full expression, her irises held some snippets that the Things were able to see. Not liking that much at all, they put their pens to small paper. Just as they were about to draw out a letter each, she interrupted them with a sudden cough and showing of card.

V: I'm ok with that. Watching their pens be pulled back, Violet put down the first instant curiosity that came to mind. Here's my question: Why are you using notecards to talk?

T2: We used to be able to speak, just as simple as the flow of wind brushing leaves. But we lost our voices in a unfortunate event, one that transpired years ago.

T1: We thought about how you'd understand us, and thought through some ideas that would've worked as well as rust. But then we found these, and knew that this way was as easy as eating cheese.

With that last line of reply, Things 2 and 1 set down their first cards. Then they pulled up their seconds, labeling the upper-left edges with two I's. T1: We've answered, so it's our turn to ask. After making his lower left, metal arm rise while resting on it's side, Thing 1 looked to Thing 2. At his nod the arm was lowered, and the other lower limb with it's pronged holding the pen, wrote away. Why were you wearing a torn skirt under a pair of jeans? It isn't suitable for snow weather, even if it's covered by another layer of clothes.

Even while her hand halted twice to tremble, Violet was able to write a reason. V: I wasn't able to change into anything better before.

The want to inquire was present in Thing 1s' pen-ready, metal hand. But he knew better then to give pressure, and to break the rules of the exchange game. So instead he lay back, giving Violet a downward wave as in thanks.

V: My turn then, where am I exactly?

Thing 2s' smile, eyes, and even his nose brighten as he responded. T2: You are currently in our House, which is surrounded by the forest of Crooked Trees. The forest is wide and vast, producing and reducing leaves as fast as the past.

T1: The forest from a high viewpoint, looks like a circle maze. To reach any of it's endpoints, you have to know your way or be guided by a seperate gaze.

Violet couldn't do nothing more then write 'thanks', as her face become blank. Despite that however, she didn't miss the next card holding a question. T2: Since you asked it of us, we'll ask you: Where are you from?

V: I'm from...Atlanta, Georgia.

T1: The United States of America is where you're from.

Seeing that cluster of words without a question mark, made Violet stare. Then she tilted her head, not trying to widen her eyes a inch. V: You know what the USA is?

T1: We've read about it, along with the other continents over in the reading den. But we only know maybe a fifth or tenth of all info bits, due to the reading material haven't been updated since a certain time-then.

Just as Violet was about to start writing again, Thing 2 stopped her. He capped his hands and held a dismissive finger out. Then as he shook it, he had his recently side-line written card hover next to it. T2: You already asked a question, it's our turn.

Violet shook her head once, making Thing 2 nod in opposition. Then she shook it for second time, prompting Thing 1 to nod instead. When she roughly denied the fact a third time, both Things eyed and pointed to her card. She flipped it around, starting to read the lines from the bottom first. It took her a near minute to spot the question, and she hid her annoyance behind a simple rubbing of her nose.

V: You guys are right. Go ahead and ask.

T1: Where did you find one of the Port-Boxes?

Violet shifted her head to look up at Thing 1, and then down to re-read his question. V: I don't know what a Port-Box is.

T2: He's talking about what might've looked like a wooden hatch to you. You'd only see a hatch because most of the Port-Boxes, are almost fully buried into the ground.

Due to realization spreading like wild fire across her face, Violet almost lost her grip on both card and pen. V: I found one under a dumpster panel. It was really easy to open. And what I saw inside, was like a rainbow spiral. Discarding the current card for another one, she had her pens' tip barely press down. A unsettling thought she had pondered only once since she woke, caught her attention. Thinking on it made her suck in her lower lip, as well as force her to prevent a sigh from escaping.

T2: It's your turn to ask now.

When she prompted herself to make that thought not become a question yet, her wording was coated in a darker shade of ink. V: Can you two show me where this Port-box is?

Their answers were brought up as fast as a heartbeat. T1: Most certainly. T2: Of course!

* * *

In the span of five minutes, Violet got on: her jacket, beanie, and a pair of black gloves given to her by Thing 2. At the same time, the twin Things retrieved their red-white striped hoodies, them being on the coat rack next to the front door. Once they put them on, they opened the door for Violet. And thus after locking the door behind them, the trio set off with Thing 1 leading the way.

As they proceeded along a path not carved into the ground, the many trees they saw and passed truly gave the forest it's name. Every grown trunk of oak, was bent or twisted in some fashion facing up. The branches also had odd shapes, with the most of them being long enough to touch other branches, as well as all of them having their tips pointing to the sky. One person or two could say that, due to such strange details, the trees give the impression that they could come to life at any moment. And if they were to suddenly wake up, they might be irritated or angry, seeing as Thing 1 was making his metal arms shoving some branches aside.

While Violet was paying some attention to every third passed right-sided tree, Thing 2 tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned her head to him, he flashed a notecard out before her eyes. T2: Do they scare you in any way? She shook her head. Every morning and every night, when we'd either be out here or looking through a window, we never found ourselves to get any fright. Despite how weird they look, we actually would think of them like any good book. They're exciting, thrilling, possibly even jaw-dropping time and again.

V: How? At Thing 2s' head confused tilt, Violet reiterated. How can you see these trees and be excited?

T2: The trees, among lots of other whats we like to see, give off vibes of fun! Anytime we would come out here, we'd love to play with the trees. We'd climb up, we'd swing on branches, we'd give numerous knocks, we'd make conversation, and we'd most importantly find enjoyment in giving them company.

As Thing 2 beamed down happily at his words, Violet eyed the ground with her right foot giving a stomp. It went unnoticed by Thing 2, as he swiftly got another card out. T2: Say or write Violet, what is one thing you like to do for fun?

She almost stumbled over her own footing at reading that. Instantly she looked away, loosely prying at her beanies' front edge. Her nostrils heavily breathed in the cold air. Then her fingers drummed against both her forehead, and her side.

Another tap at her shoulder made her steadily turn back to Thing 2. T2: How about a different question then: Would you rather spend some time reading, doing a sport activity, or listening to one song or more? When she just gave him a blank stare, he gave her a minute to write a answer. Alas she did not, making Thing 2 drive a finger into his hair, and twirled it around some strands. After spending some moments pondering on what else he could ask, he was ready to jot down a more easier question. The flick of thick paper however, stopped him from creating the first letter.

V: I don't know.

He pulled his simple question back, and instead turned to her with bewildered eyes. He was expecting her to explain what she meant. But when she just shoved her card and pen into a pocket, he dropped that expectation. Then as she increased her pacing, he didn't slow her footing. Instead he just watched her walk on towards Thing 1, smile faltering inch by inch.

For the rest of the walk, no further card talk was done. It was only when they had reached a small clearing, which had no direct path going in any direction, that Thing 1 scribbled out a sentence. T1: We're here. When knitted eyebrows were sent his way, he dug a metal hand into his hoodies' interior. After searching through pocket after pocket, he finally produced a whimsical iron-like bowtie. The only black and white spotted button there was press, was given pressure by the weight of a thumb and forefinger.

Five seconds had passed until a distorted, tracker-beep played out several feet away. Underneath a gathered square of snow, a faint but eye-catching glow of dark red broke through. Marching over, Thing 1 stretched all of his metal arms out and down. Then he instructed them to start digging through the snow. He sent the white pellets flying going from side to the next, doing so at incredible speed. Thing 2 had to actually step on over and shielded Violet, or else fast-formed snowballs would've flung right into her face and chest.

Once all of the snow was cleared, the red wooden hatch-lid was visible. Thing 1 asked Violet to come over with the pull of a finger. When she did, he made an arm hover around the edges of the lid. T1: The faint glow is not at all a good sign. What you would want to see is something bright. Some sneaking light that'll show that everything is fine. Thing 1 keeled down, planting one metal arm against the ground while a second sat against the openable lid. With a swift jerking movement, he threw the lid up and let Violet peer in.

What was once a colorful spiral, was nothing but a large and heavy series of blocking solid rocks. While Violet had an incomprehensible stare, Thing 1 gave the stones a simple tap. T1: The Port-Box has had only three whos use it in all. Me, Thing 2 and one of the grandest whos to ever stand tall. No other who or any like you, has ever travelled using one of these before.

Thing 1 closed the lid, and took some steps away. As Violet stayed stuck in place, Thing 2 jogged over. T2: We don't think that the Port-Box will remain blocked. We think that after maybe a month or so, the rocks will crumble, and then the sketch colors will come back. Whilst bringing out a new card, he gave Violet a comforting pat on the back. We both had our first time using the Port-Boxes too. There was a blockage but it went away after some time. We were able to go home, just like how you'll be able to do! But until then, we'll gladly have you live with us!

Reading off what was supposed to be a uplifting assurance, did not make Violet feel anything like that in the slightest. Instead a downcast somberness darken her expression. With repeatedly clenching and unclenching hands, she pulled her card and pen back out. She almost crushed the card into a disfigured ball, and nearly thinned the pen with a hard squeeze.

The message she had to write and show, was one that was truly saddening. V: I don't have a home. Then with her throwing the writing surface and utensil into the snow, Violet stomped away without waiting for a reply. She left Thing 2 speechless, and didn't turn her back see whatever reaction he or Thing 1 had. She just moved pass a few trees, and then decided to hide herself from view behind one of them.

As his twin walked over, Thing 2 was stunned. Although he was able to pick the discarded items up, he wasn't able to rightfully process or understand her sentence. He tried to see if his twins' gaze had some reveal of understanding. But all he saw was the same level of surprise he had, and an intrigue to know more. Considering the girls' current mood however, that second feeling wasn't going to be filled.

Thing 2 and Thing 1 turned to each other. It was clear that at the moment, if not for the rest of the day, there was nothing to be done. Absolutely, positively nothing could be achieved with her like this. But to both Things, especially to 2, they knew some action had to be taken. Some action that was hopeful, constructive, and tethered with great benefits.

When it seemed like they would have to think of where to start, along the way going back to the house, Thing 1 got out a new notecard. He quickly drew a circle, and then started labelling the lined columns with numbers. At the end of that, he wrote out a string of three words that prodded at his brain, along with Thing 2's.

Plans for Activities!

Those simple words made Thing 2's smile regain full joy. And it wasn't long before they both started walking, and jotting down idea after idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit Update 5/18: Changed a few words.


	4. A Game of kicks

The rest of December 1st, as well as the full day of the 2nd, came and went like droplets the falling snow. Violet Beauregarde was able to settle in, although her normal mood and behavior barely shifted. She still refused to speak to the twin Things. She still ate the littlest of bites from breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And there was no slight sign of a smile, or even a frown to appear on her lips.

From the way she woke up groggy on the current morning of December 3rd, as a calendar resting on the nearby counter showed, she would possibly go about this day like the rest. Barely do much at all besides what she needed to do. Eat every morning, afternoon, and evening. Talk to the twin Things by either cards or head movements, not for to much amount of time. Do all four of her necessary hobbies: breathing, blinking, walking, and thinking. And then at the end of the day, sleep in the bed that Thing 2 lets her use.

Stepping out of bed with messy, curls-in-curls hair, Violet rubbed her eyes. After helping her sight clear up, she gave the room a good turn-around look. None of the doors were open by any margin. None of the twins were sleeping in the other bed. She was alone, by herself.

Lazily nodding at that fact, Violet went on to check up on a few things. First she examined the drawers of the dresser close to both beds, seeing that the cup-held candle and the matches were still in the middle drawer. Next she double-checked her clothing count, finding that she still had a week or so of clean clothing left. Finally she peaked underneath the dangling edges of her bed covers, determining that a building pile of glass items were still there. Upon making sure all that was still fine, she went on to effortlessly prepare for the third boring day.

Once she took a short shower, tossed on a simple pair of long pants and a long-sleeve shirt, and gave her bland face a grated look, she headed for the kitchen. The two previous mornings she walked into the dining room, Thing 2 could be seen cooking. This day however, he was no where to be seen there. Before she could start wondering on where he, or his twin was, an unfamiliar flow of music flew from the living room.

Walking on in, her eyes saw him laying on the couch. He currently had his back resting against the couchs' right arm, with his feet being inches away from dangling over the other. In his grasp was a stringed instrument, a violin being slowly played by its soft pressing bow. The tune that was produced, was one carrying a huge weight over a tone of cheer. Each time the bow was brought across the aligned strings, the weight upon cheer would either increase or decrease. And with every deepening and fainting shift, the melody was given a beautiful and saddening variety.

Steps of hesitation were what Violet took walking over. She stopped upon reaching the table. Then she just stood quietly, not attempting to get his attention. Instead she followed his eyesight, seeing that he was watching the drops of fickle ice fall outside, beyond the yellow-black square window. As she stared at the display indifferently, he was smirking.

The mid-way cut off of the violin made Violet turn back to him. He set the instrument and bow down. Then reached over onto the table with his left hand, scattering a short stack of face-down cards. He picked one out at random as he sat up, and raised his chosen card.

T2: We can't help but wonder about you. Once she had enough seconds to read that in full, he exchanged that card for another. After that one he'd do the same with another, and then with the rest. Flicking his hand down and up, having fingers wrap around the same-placed lower edges. We didn't want to bother you unnecessarily, despite our normal nature.-So we let you have a day free from us strange whos, if that's how you see us with different looks and shoes.-But we couldn't help but notice you permanently feeling down, without wearing anything near a frown.-Then there is the answer you gave two days before, not knowing what fun you might find to be a bore.-So we puzzled once, twice, and thrice over and again.-Until we decided on a span of ideas!

After setting the last card down, Thing 2 propelled his right hand upward from his side. Flying above the hand by a feets' length, was a sudden appearing amber small ball. It had its' time to soar before gravity pulled it down into a gloved palm. No time to rest was given as the hand was directed left and down. And then with a simple jolt up, the ball was playfully sent toward Violet.

She did nothing but watch as the ball bounced off her chest, fell to the floor, and hopped a few times before settling down into rolling. Just as the sphere went under the table, Thing 2 pulled the whole thing aside and grabbed the ball. His eyebrows steadily rose, looking down from her hair to her shoe-covered toes. He let his free fingers rub at his narrow chin, studying a mouth that stayed thin.

It was then that he jumped into standing. He spread his feet apart by two foots' worth, slightly and gladly shaking the handheld ball. She was unfazed, having her sight go forth and back between the sphere and him. When he tossed it at her by underhand again however, there was a twitch. Her arm looked ready to move, with a hand that was no doubt going to catch. But she remained unmoving overall, even as the ball had hit her nose bridge.

Upon retrieving the sphere once more, Thing 2 threw the round object from one hand to the other. He started to walk pass Violet, landing each new step with the tips of his heels. Before he could head out into the hall, he stopped and twirled around. As his left hand caught the ball, he crouched down and had his right hand dive into his shoe. With a sharp pull another message was revealed. T2: Would you kindly follow after?

Although she gave the kitchen a glance, Violet decided to nod. Thing 2 flashed a smile before going right back around, slipping the lone card into his hoodie, and the ball into a pants' pocket. Then he strolled forward with crossing steps and turned left. He ran his left palm against the wall as walked on, letting fingertips tap against the long-added checker square paint. He also let his heels meet the floor, going all the way like that until he stopped before the finger pointing street post.

After peaking over his shoulder twice to see Violents' neutral expression, he tilted his right. He then went off, replacing his floor-first connecting heels with his shoe-tips. He slid next to the right wall, switching between knocking on it with his knuckles and patting it with his wrist. Just as he pasted by the door leading into the reading den, he looked back to Violet for a third time. She was constantly glancing from his knocking-patting hand, to his weird pacing feet, and then at his back with puzzlement.

Seeing that made him spin toward the Sport 'arena' door. Pressing his back to it, he chose to fiddle around with it. As he did that he leaned his head right and left, not taking his centered sight away from Violet Beauregarde's irises. He saw the tiniest clash of two different feelings, he couldn't figure out what they were, no matter how long he stared expecting them to resurface.

When he eventually turned the knob over, he bolted back and caused the door to slam open. Violet flinched, and then cautiously followed after him. What lied inside was what seemed to be a wide, blank wall. Behind Thing 2's backing form however, there was a single counter-top table with a curious set-up of two levers attached. As she headed into the room, Thing 2 winked at her while pushing a finger deep into his hair. What seemed to be him just messing with his blue hair, became a strange search and grab for a hidden electronic keycard.

Placing the recent hair-residing keycard into the only sizable slot available, Thing 2 set a hand around the rightmost lever. After a bright green light pulsated from the counter-top, he looked back to Violet and pulled the lever. A quick succession of noises, belonging to many moving unknown objects and pieces of supposed furniture, came from the other side of the wall. Once the sounds of movement ceased, the blank wall quickly began to descend to the ground. Once the entire wall was buried into the floor, an assembled room was revealed.

Lining the walls going from top to bottom and near to far were: hoops, shelves containing pairs of large leather gloves, attire sets of gear differing in height for different sports, folded up goal posts, and stacks of short emerald-themed gym separators. Then at the far back, four see-through crates held different items intended for different sports.

As Violet took in the wide and lengthy sport room, Thing 2 headed over to the far crate. He constantly shifted between landing each foot taken on heels and shoe tips. Along the way there was a certain volume pattern of taps, reaching highs and lows due to the occasional lifting of one knee. The said highs and lows, ranged from and sounded similar to loud slaps and claps, and then multiple happening finger flicks.

When Thing 2 had reached the four crates, he pulled out the amber ball. As he opened up the first crate, he sent the small sphere bouncing back to Violet. He examined one of the three dozen footballs, squeezing it to test if it was fully inflated. Upon finding that to be the case, Thing 2 turned back to Violet. What he saw was her standing idly, with the ball rolling back to him.

After he decided to let the football fall back into the crate, he picked up the amber ball, and moved onto the next crate. As he reached down to grab a puck and short-thick black stick, he sent the amber ball back bouncing to Violet once again. He rubbed one set of fingers against the hockey puck, and patted the stick from top to bottom with the other. Once he reached the near bottom, the stick suddenly extended and became a regular sized hockey stick. Thing 2 was about to shake his head in a 'so-so' manner, but the emergence of a smack sound made him look back. The ball was still bouncing but was heading his way now, with Violet still being idly positioned and having her right hand vibrating at her side.

He shrugged and caught the currently descending ball with ease. He decided to shrink the hockey stick back down, pulling at the mini switch he pushed to make it grow. Then after he faced his back towards Violet, he dropped the stick and puck into the crate, and sent the ball back bouncing as he moved onto the third crate. Instead of having either of his hands grab and hold one of the residing basketballs, he kneeled down and drummed his fingers across a few of them. While a smile was sent down to the gathered basketballs, he didn't have the same look-level of interest as for footballs and hockey sticks. So he just looked and gave faint touches, waiting to hear the next bounce sound by the amber ball to be made. When it didn't come, Thing 2 turned back for a third time. The bouncing resumed, with Violet quickly crossing her arms and staring off to the side.

After catching the amber ball again, Thing 2 gave Violet a amused and 'confused' look. Then he took slow steps to the fourth crate, already lowering a hand toward the black-white square colored spheres. As he turned his back to Violet a fourth time, he sent the amber ball off. Then moments after he pulled one of the Size-5 soccer balls up to his eye height, he heard a kicking commotion and acted fast. His left palm was placed knuckles-first against the back of the neck. And instantly the amber ball shot into his grasp.

Once Thing 2 turned around, the sight of a shoe hovering and the feel of the amber ball in his hand, made him smile. While Violet's face carried a look of regret and terror, and her whole body was trembling made him concerned and confused, he didn't let any gladness slip away. He pocketed the amber ball, and let the soccer ball slid out his hand. Before the sport sphere could move away, he set a foot on top of it. Then he met Violet's wide eyes, happily gesturing to the trapped ball with his chin. When she just set her foot down and rose her brows, Thing 2 reared his foot and then softly kicked the ball to her.

All she did was stare at the approaching ball, and hesitated to move a muscle. That reaction made Thing 2 walk over, holding one leg out toward the ball. As he pulled the sphere back to him, he managed to lift it with his foot. Once it was pulled up to his arm length, he grabbed it both hands. Then he held it out to the preteen girl, tilting his head left and right as he waited.

She looked between the soccer ball and him, attempting to not feel anything but indifferent. Her fingers however began to twitch, and their respective hands started reaching out. As her fingertips got closer and closer to the offered ball, she couldn't help but let her neutral expression form cracks. Confliction slowly tainted every part of her facial features. And when she got to slid her digits against the smooth squared covering, as well as hold the goal-maker of a constant feet working sport, Violet let astonishment push past forced staleness.

That unfortunately only lasted for a quarter of a minute. Thing 2 had tugged the ball away from Violet. Then he backed up some meters, and dropped the ball. Her surprised eyes could only become more wide as he kicked the ball to her. And instead of letting the sphere simply hit her, she jerked her leg out to stop its' movement.

While Violet nearly froze at seeing the action, Thing 2 clapped his hands once in glee. As she looked at him, he directed her attention down to his legs. He gave a demonstration of kicking, before he pointed his right foot at her. She glanced down to her feet, eyeing the ball with returned hesitation. Then she made herself give the sphere a soft, but solid kick.

Trapping the ball in between his feet, Thing 2 gave Violet a fast thumb's up. After let the it go free, he began walking the ball off to Violets' right. Then with a swift motion he gave it a punt, sending it off rolling after one little hop. She stopped it with the raising of her shoes' bottom, and moved over to the left. And after some little spur of returned reluctance, she punted to ball back to him.

Thus began a series of many kicks, punts, and foot stops. Thing 2 and Violet went back and forth, adding and subtracting force behind every moment their shoes met the ball. The building amount of happening exchanges affected them in good ways. For Violet, pieces of her indifference front were cracking more and more, with the possibility of a smile from her growing. For Thing 2 he kept on smiling, and was joyful at seeing her start to enjoy this game of passing.

Within the time they were spending playing this kind game, senses of competition had sparked to life. Although Thing 2 was more tuned to feeling such a way, both of their eyes narrowed in increased concentration. They both had developed a goal to pass for the game. It made them create a lengthy line of separation, to pull themselves back in order to focus on adding speed to their kicks. The goal was to send the ball pass each other, as if the far distanced walls were large score posts.

For a good chunk of possibly an hour, they both proved to be capable players. They both went about trying new angles to take advantage of, along with more measured strengths put into each kick. Then when they individually became defense, they adapted to each kick the other gave. No matter the great amount of: bounces off of the side walls, the right of left slide or leaning kicks, and punts that twisted into becoming surprise shots, no score was made. Violet Beauregarde and Thing 2 became quickly established equals here, something that neither expected or actually thought could happen.

When the hour had passed by, with minutes ticking away at speed of blinks, some fatigue started taking hold of Violet. Her movements began to slow, sweat was forming above her forehead, and her breaths were deepening. In response to the signs of her constructing exhaustion, Thing 2 generously decreased his speed to match hers. And that show of kindness, had made the purple girl try to resist the startling signs of tiredness.

She attempted to just keep on going fast. She paid nearly no mind to the the generating aches. Or to the rolling lines of sweat. Or to the disheveled bouts of breathing. She just pushed on and on, going in all the way.

She managed to surprise both herself and Thing 2, with her finally kicking the ball pass him. As it hit the upper half of the far wall, she stopped moving completely. As the ball bounced off, a rush of energy rose within her. And that energy prompted her to hop, throw her arms up, and let out a yell of joy. "YES!"

Not longer after that did that energy make her jolt. She shot a strict hand over her mouth. Her face adopted a lighter shade, alongside the combination of feeling fear and regret. Then all of the boiled happiness had sunk away, being replaced by a majority of indifference. And after Violet shook her head repeatedly, she turned around and sprinted out of the room like a bolt of lightning.

Thing 2 was left to be stunned, with one step having been taken. He blinked and tilted his head to the side. His smile faltered as his confusion grew. The first time he heard her say any word, had caused her to lock up and run. There was no reason he could fathom for that. And while he wanted to follow her, he couldn't bring himself to.

So he just stood there by himself, watching the open doorway. Eventually however he managed some movement. Despite the quick down turn of Violets' mood and the end of their game, he was able to press the white-lettered button attached to his sweater. **"Good Job Son!"**

As he took in that line of positivity, Thing 2 let his smile recover. Then he tapped his hands against his knees, nodding to himself. Success was born, and then success was torn. He and his twin still had plans to help out Violet. And even if the difficult has increased, he was sure on trying as hard as he must.


	5. Fun, Drive, and Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics and song of 'Fun, Drive, and Pride!' are my own. Also to note: "Bold and underline" = Being spoken/sung through a electronic device.

The morning after the Game of kicks, seemed to start out similarly to how the rest of the previous day went. From waking up to changing her provided clothes, an extra layer of indifferent was casted onto Violets' whole being. Her lips were strained as they made and held a thin line. Her arms and legs weren't allowed to stretch or reach out far from her body. And she let her eyes stayed still, not being allowed to emote anything good or bad, along with not blinking any more times then what was needed.

When she descended the steps, her feet moved in the most straight-forward manner. Once she got to the first floor, she kept that walking style going constant. It was like she marching, with the purpose being to feed her need to eat. It was so simplistic, so forcefully-normal charged. Any sensible who, if they were to see her walking about like that, would wonder and then might inquire why.

As he was indeed a sensible who, Thing 1 halted Violets' advanced with a metal arm serving as roadblock. He watched as she trailed the mechanical limb back to it's source. When she saw and took in his goggle-covered eyes, he opted to take them off. Now seeing iris to iris, he tilted his head backward and deeply inhale a wonderful smell. Lying on the table behind him, were three plates prepped with fresh waffles.

Seeing as the roller chair was already set in front of the table, Violet made her way over and sat down. Although she was quick to pick up a knife and fork, she didn't start eating. She just kept her sight on the two stacked waffles, letting her fork and knife idly reside alongside her meal. She was waiting for something, acting similarly to a robot waiting for orders.

Taking a wild guess, Thing 1 sat down on the table opposite of her. Only then did Violet stick her fork and knife in, cut out, and eat a tiny piece of the crisp battercake. Holding off on eating his own, Thing 1 had his finger tap at his head. He studied her, feeling increasingly sorry for how she conditioned herself to eat such mini bites.

Almost a minute passed by before a abrupt slam made Violet drop her silverware. Looking back to see where the slam came from, she saw Thing 2 poke his head out from behind the wall. His brows were knitted, his lips were containing a weak smirk, and he was staring at the near wall with serious consideration. Seeing as he was focused on the wall for some reason, Violet turned around and was ready to continue her turtle-speed eating meal. She was made to pause however, as Thing 1 was pulling the two other plates away. She idly watched as he set the plates down onto the couch, and then pull a gray remote out from under a pillow. He pressed one of the buttons on it, causing some square spaces of the right wall to open like windows.

Before she could see what might come out, a loud knock got Violet to look back towards Thing 2. He was slapping, patting, and knocking on the wall. He made his hands go as high as they could, then he dropped to a temporary crouch, and brought them down below to the floor. It seemed like he was trying to find some odd sound, maybe trying to find some squeaky wooden board. But if he was trying to do that, then him bombarding the wall with knocks and all was unnecessary.

Thing 2 suddenly stopped. He laid his hands flat against the floor, with his shoes standing upon their tips. His upper lip was sucked in, letting a freaky grin take its place. Then he popped said lip back out, tilting his head right and left while he deeply thought. It didn't take much long after for his eyes to light up, and for him to launch himself up to stand.

Thing 2 glanced at his twin, and then looked at Violet. The sight of a harden expressionless face made him lean back against the wall. Then he flicked at the nearest right-sided spot of wall, following it up with numerous finger presses. Those presses turned into loud, palm-first taps that happened between long passing seconds. And not long after he had one foot doing the same to the floor.

Slowly Thing 2 rotated his head, setting his sights on Thing 1 and Violet. As his brows gradually rose, his happy expressed lips grew out slightly. The tapping of his palm and foot started to go faster. A stable pattern of pacing was also beginning to bear fruit. First came the hand and second the foot, then the foot was brought down before the flat hand.

The pattern had only just begun to shine before Thing 2 jumped back. He spun over to the right on his shoe-tips. Then he shot a eager hand out, having his knuckles hit the dark lime wallpaper. As he went onto to deliver a series of rapid-backward facing knocks, his heels patted the floor one after the other. With short stretches and quick pulls, he had his heels come near and go far from the floor-wall points of connection.

While Thing 2 had spun rightward once more, Violet turned her chair around to fully watch these strange actions. She held her plate with both hands, tightening and loosening her grip with each passing moment. Flickers of a flabbergasted reaction tainted her rubbing lips, and her difficultly in widening eyes. And the following merge of having a palm tapping and knuckles knocking, with interchanging heels clacking and shoe-bottoms patting, only furthered the appearances of those flickers.

After giving the wall one more round of knocks and taps, Thing 2 threw his body back. He let his feet fly and quickly descended. He landed on his palms, before turning right around. As he held his lower body up at a slope, he looked to Violet and his twin again. Giving them a wave with one hand, he had the others' fingers drum against the floor as if he was computer typing. While that was transpiring, his shoe-feet began jabbing at the wall, switching constantly between each other upon each individual loud poke.

In the span of three blinks of any pairs of eyes, Thing 2 leaped and rolled over. Landing upon his palms, he instantly began whipping his head to the right and left. His legs were made to do the same by shaking back and forth, with shoes briefly and swiftly striking the wall multiple times. When those times came to an end, he pressed one hand down. And upon turning his body around to lay horizontally, he had the other hand make a fist and had it pound the floor.

Upon having his feet land onto the floor with a slam, Thing 2 rolled over before jumping up. He maneuvered his arms out behind the back of his head, planting them down below. Then as he spread his legs out, he pushed his whole lower body leftward. And with ease he performed a cartwheel, with a few others following in great secession.

The instant he got inches-close to the far wall, he managed to stand upright and proceeded to peddle back. Then as his angled-changed arms are made to shake, his feet held him in place while undergoing various motions. He jogged in place, let the sides of his shoes perform floor slaps, and had his heels and shoe-tips go wild tapping. Then he threw his arms out, making them hover straight like the wings of a airplane. Not long after did he start spinning around in place, having his feet dish out a fire-like pace of numerous tapping movements.

As Thing 2 continued to tap-dance like crazy, Thing 1 leaped up to his feet. The sudden action made Violet slowly turn her head. In doing so she saw him make the upper pair of metal arms to retract, their destination being to go inside his backpack. As he had his head shake, and his foot tap along to his twins' energetic motions, he reduced the bottom pair of the metal arm's size to that of his own. And then with bouncy steps, he hurried over to join Thing 2 in the festivity.

While Thing 2 pulled his arms back in and stayed standing, Thing 1 perform a slide and lowered down into crouching. He made the two pronged metal hands close with dual button presses, and then had them start rapidly poking the floor. Meanwhile Thing 2 had begun hopping over to the leftward wall, slowing his spinning and feet frenzy as he grew closer and closer. And just as his movements' became snail-like, he suddenly surged with speed and sprinted.

Upon reaching the wall he threw his legs out and up, having his shoe-feet meet the wallpaper. Instead of immediately falling or bouncing backward, he physically ran up the wall. Then as he got to the highest point near the ceiling, he sprung himself off and soared through the air. With a quick swipe of a hand he scratched at the ceiling, and actually ripped off some line of tape that wasn't noticeable to Violets' eyes. Underneath the tape was a single red-blue cane, and Thing 2 caught it with one hand easily.

Before Thing 2 could plunge down towards the ground, Thing 1 leaned over and held his back up. Thing 2 had landed and then jumped, swiping at the ceiling once more. A second cane was retrieved, but at the expense of Thing 2 heading directly toward the wall. Right before he could fly face first into it, Thing 2 let his feet hit first and had them launch him back. And with a splendid twirl and flip, he landed right besides Thing 1s' rising form.

Having the floor be patted with both shoes, Thing 2 held a cane out to Thing 1. Matching his twins' tapping shoe-feet with his own, he raised one brow at the cane. While his left hand flinched against the left backpack strap joystick, he had the other one instruct the right metal hand lift the gray remote. All eyes looked to where the remote was pointed, and saw high-positioned speakers and a pointy-edged stereo. Once the play button was pressed, the remote was sent flying to the couch, and the offered cane was taken by the left metal hand.

As the twin Things clapped their shoes together, bursts of piano and extravagant trumpets flew from the speakers. Then at the emergence of a familiar, friendly and cheerfully proud voice, Thing 2 and Thing 1 began to dance in near sync.

 **"For those who are feeling down, as well as those who wear opposite frowns, listen now and listen well! I'm willing to tell of a plan that's swell!"** At the blare of a trio trumpets, Thing 2 took to the center of the floor. As Thing 1 slipped away, Thing 2 twirled his cane round and round. **"It can work out to be a miracle, to extinguish many thoughts involving any cynical. It can boost the spirits of any who, thinking that their negative blues must stick like glue! And its' divided into steps of three, being easy following words for you and me!"** Then to match the music's instrumental, he had both shoe-feet and the cane handle patter tap away. Not even a minute had gone by, before Thing 1 returned to his twin's side. He had retrieved a chalkboard riding on wheels, and had instantly readied the right writing utensil.

 **"Step 1 is to find and have Fun, even if its' easier said then done! But let me say, there is no need to make any pay!"** As Thing 1 wrote the first steps' word, Thing 2 skipped over to the walls. He began jogging along from one end to the other, knocking and tapping over and over. **"To find Fun just look around, go and see what stands on your ground! To have Fun just let imagination sprout, test the sounds of rooms in and out! Let heavy restraints of mood go soft, and you'll get fields of Fun beyond any croft! Fun, Fun, Fun! You gotta find Fun!"** At the end of the leftward wall Thing 2 hopped toward his twin. Then he proceeded to switch between standing and crouching, acting along to the three quickly yelled 'Funs'.

 **"Now for Step 2 you must take a dive, going out and in your mind to find a Drive! I don't mean to speak of any cars. I speak of any determination that you won't bar!"** As Thing 1 wrote the second steps' word, Thing 2 brought his arms together. He started performing linear swim motions, lowering the arms he held high above his head with each movement. Upon beginning to reach for his toes, he opted to hold them apart, and bring them to normal height whilst shaking left and right. **"A Drive cannot be given or found. A Drive can only be discovered in many playgrounds. To find these grounds you must explore your brain. Search through and make space on your dream plains! Take one desire or two and build! Construct determination by climbing stairs and possible hills!"**

Having his hands swipe and wave through the air, Thing 2s' body repeatedly rose and fell. Along the way the power of his smile grew and shrunk, with the same being said about the volume of his taps. But nearing the last verses' rhyme, he could only become emotionally stronger. Then when the vocal pattern of three returned, he placed his fists on his hips and jumped back to stand aside Thing 1. **"Drive, Drive, Drive! You gotta build a Drive! "** As a mix instrumental of wondrous piano and brilliant trumpets played, the twin Things spun around and struck their canes down upon the floor. And after a few knee-lifting steps delivered pats, the third word step was sung and was written out.

 **"And now to make Step three, you must develop Pride like planting a tree. The time to take isn't long or short, it's a building exercise unlike learning any sport!"** As Thing 2 flexed and stretched his arm muscles, Thing 1 sent the chalkboard skating until it hit the far wall. He went on to move back and forth, having his shoe-feet pitter-pattering the floor. **"To feel pride one must create confidence. But such self-respect must not brew overconfidence. We all contain limitations and faulterations that bring us down. But don't mope(don't mope!), and don't think up false compliments! Instead have a Drive make you work hard, and complete tasks difficult and Fun to gain accomplishments!"**

The crossing of legs and simultaneous hops sent the twin Things turning. With their heads nodding along to the song, their canes were made to sweep and stomp down. As they faced each other, the widest smiles that could be formed before grins were created. Then they sprung their arms up, leftward, and then rightward as the repetition of three resurfaced. **"Pride, Pride, Pride! You gotta develop Pride!"** And once an electric piano and trio of trumpets were played, the twin Things suddenly sprinted in Violets' direction.

Quickly giving Thing 2 his cane, Thing 1 quickly gathered the three cold plates. As he retreated toward the kitchen, Thing 2 spun Violets' chair around. Before she could react, he ran back until they were in the hall. Then with a easy push, he sent her chair back against the front door. And without offering any explanation, he back-flipped five times away.

Now standing in the middle of the hall, Thing 2 waited only seconds Thing 1 to join him. They both looked up, causing Violet to do the same. Two speakers resided high on the walls, directly positioned the opposite of each other. The instrumental combo of music was flowing through, sounding like it was nearing an end. But a strong surge arose, alongside the singers' voice returning with a fruity feel.

 **"Let's Recap shall we?** **Step number 1 is to find and have Fun! Look around and see what stands on your ground! Let imagination sprout, and test the sounds of rooms in and out! You'll find that Fun can be found, no matter how easier it sounds said then done!"** The twin Things back-grabbed each other's sleeves, and went on to spin around. The ends of their canes were unleashed onto the floor and walls, swiftly jabbing away. Slowly they began to move down the hall, their shoe-feet pitter-pattering their path. Then just as they made a foot of distance, they both jumped and slammed their feet flat onto the walls. And with their backs pressing together, along with knees being pulled and raised, they managed to stay above the floor.

 **"Step number 2 is to discover a Drive! The only places to discover a Drive are your playgrounds. To find these grounds you must explore your brain! Search through and make room on dream plains! Take one desire or two and build! And construct determination by climbing stairs and possible hills!"** The twin Things went on to leap off and on the walls, acting like the arms of a fast-passing clock. With every instance they planted their feet on the ground or the wall, rapid taps of their canes were dealt. With each move of their legs' positioning, they got closer to the far end of the hall. And as the song progressed, their shifting speed increased.

 **"And Step Number 3 is to develop Pride! You must gain confidence, but without brewing overconfidence. The limitations and faulterations we have mustn't cause moping, or make us make any false compliments. Let your determined Drive make you work hard, and complete tasks difficult and Fun to gain accomplishments!"** At the pronunciation of the last word the twin Things stopped, having reached the halls' far end. They exchanged quick glances before springing upward.

 **"Fun, Drive, and Pride! These three words can make any mood soar, like any bird passing by any shore!"** The twin Things jumped thrice toward the walls, delivering rapid knocks. Then they spread their arms up and out, pretending to fly from side to side.

 **"Fun, Drive, and Pride! These three words can make any day bright, like any herds of shining morning light!"** The twin Things posed as the first letters of the three words, with Thing 2 rotating around Thing 1 to form a P. Then they produced tiny flashlights from their pants' right pockets, and flipped their switches on. For a short while the cylinder glowing lights were swirled around, illuminating pieces of the whole hall.

 **"Find Fun in the world around you, discover a Drive from inside and out your mind, and develop Pride for the tasks that you do! Follow these steps to undo all shadows, all rainclouds, and all ties holding happiness down! It'll be hard, but difficulty is what we all face and can pass! So don't fear impossibility without trying any possibility!"** The twin Things shut off and put the flashlights away. After having passed the center of the hall, they both held their canes out to the side. With heads dipped down, they cross-walked whilst banging the cane-ends against the floor. Then they halted all movement.

 **"Remember, Remember these three words whenever you feel down! Fun!"** The twins stomped and hopped, striking the ends of canes down the walls and across the floor. **"D** **rive!"** The twins leaped forward and crouched, wiping and that slapping fingers across the wooden ground. **"AND…Priiiiiiiiiiiide!"** The twins spun themselves around, and then proceeded to back-flip towards the purple girl.

Three feet away is where they stopped, deciding to have their heels clacking as they turned around. Then as the song hit its' highest/ending note, the twin Things faced Violet. Their arms were thrown upward and downward separately. They fell down to one knee, sticking their free legs out. And then they sported proud smiles, having hands jazzing in the air.

The song's end made everything become silent. While joy was what Thing 2 and Thing 1 expressed, Violet had her jaw hanging open. Cluelessness, bewilderment, she was displaying almost-to all synonym feelings to surprise. At that moment there were no self-obligated restraints, just all free-to-see emotions. To the twin Things this was amazing, and such a sight made them proud of what they've done.

The silence cracker of a beep from the kitchen however, made the twin both glance that way. Seeing the source coming from near the microwave, they both high-fived. When they turned their eyes back onto Violet, they saw a unfortunate sight. Every ounce of surprise was sluggishly being deconstructed, from the top of her forehead, to the bottom of her chin. And soon the forced mask of blandness returned, having the purple girl blink indifferently.

A wave of disappointment made Things 2 and 1 shake their heads. As Thing 2 moved around Violet, he grabbed onto the back of her chair still smiling. Thing 1 instead marched off into the dining room, heading straight toward the kitchen with a withering smirk. As Thing 2 pushed Violet into the dining room, Thing 1 retrieved the breakfast plates and laid them out. Then like all previous mornings before, they watched her eat the tiniest bits if food.

They sat in their seats not feeling any gloom. They merely reflected, having hands pressed or hovering near their knees. And then they thought and thought, thinking of what else to try and do.


	6. Alone

Three days had passed since the twin Things' performance. Those days had activities consisted of: reoccurring card talks, tapping and patting instrumental shows, and attempts to play one game or two of ball passing. Each activity of those three days succeed in some way, before turnabout failure would resurface. With every failure, the length and possibility of seeing genuine emotion from the purple girl, decreased. And as a result of her building up emotional resistance, the twins' activities became shorter in length and vibrancy.

Although most of December 7th was dull and lacking card-conversations and interactions, a certain item notice sparked a pinch of curiosity. It was in the morning, where Violet almost spent an hour laid awake in bed. Her mind had started racing, thinking of what copy activity the twin Things would try. If she hadn't decided to think of such things, she would've noticed sooner that her candle-cup, was sitting atop the bedside dresser.

For all of previous days that she lived there, Violet had the candle-cup either reside in the top drawer, or in a pocket of her jacket. So as she sat up, she couldn't help but stare. Then upon grabbing and bringing it over, she started to ponder questions concerning how and why. She looked the whole candle-cup over, from the tiny flammable stick top, to the flat bottom with engraved numbers and letters. After that she gave both the bathroom, and the bedroom-exit doors squinted glances, seeing that neither of them were opened by an inch. And while confusion had started to prod at her brain, Violet made herself move on from that occurrence.

Now at the first hour of evening, the purple girl had her back laid against the dresser. Her knees were pulled close to her floor-seated form. As one hand rested on top of one knee, the other hovered next to her ankle. A lone index finger was being pulled along, lazily drawing hard-pressed lines and wide circles. And occasionally she'd stare down at her 'handiwork', and then at some object inside the bedroom.

For the majority of the morning and afternoon, as well as for all previous days, she followed a similar routine. She would sit silently in some spot of the room. She would either have one or no fingers creating fake shapes, or clenching altogether with nails brushing her jeans. She would give every visible space of the room a long look. She would be isolated, staying away from the twin Things more energetic then she'd be. And it was only when her stomach rumbled, or a need of eliminating boredom rose up, that she left the bedroom at all.

For the times she would need to get rid of boredom, she would merely go out and visit some other room downstairs. Every time she'd randomly chose a direction to look, with whatever room she would see first being her destination. The room she most often visited was the sports' 'arena', with every moment spent there making her fists hang, and tighten near her sides. The room she didn't visit much was the living room, with every moment spent there making her knees slightly shake. And the room she had visited only once was the laundry, the reason being the sight of Thing 2s' set-up blanket replacement bed, with a feeling of uncomfortableness being stirred up as a reaction.

Regarding the current time and evening, the rumble of hunger was what got Violet up and out of the room. Before she could easily go down the stairs, and walk toward the kitchen, a sudden bump from below made her halt. When another came, trailed by more separated by some seconds, the purple girl descended the stairs as quiet as can be. Upon reaching the last step, she poked her head out and looked left. There she saw Thing 2, standing opposite of the reading den and sports arena doors.

He was throwing an amber ball at the wall over and over. While his throws were given strong force, he wasn't doing so out of anger or agitation. Judging by his thin-upturned lips, and of the way his brows interchangeably raised and lowered, he was in deep concentration and contemplation. Possibly pondering about how every activity he and his twin has tried, had ended up causing Violet to forcefully become more indifferent. If not that, then he was thinking of what repeat activity he and twin should try out again.

As he stood there, watching the amber ball bounce off the wall over and over, he opted to change his throwing direction. After the next wall-bounce, he decided to lob the ball to the ceiling. Walking on feet pacing forward and back, he caught and tossed the ball up. For a while he did just that, letting his left hands' fingertips prance around his chin. And all the while Violet was losing interest, making her inching to show him that she was present, and that dinner should be cooked and served.

A single sync clap of hands and feet, along with an emerged brightness appearing on Thing 2s' face, stopped Violet from moving. She watched curiously as he hopped, pocketed the ball, and happily marched into the reading den. Knowing him to be the cook of the twin Things, as well as being curious in his sudden joy pick-up behavior, she followed him. Seeing as he left the reading dens' door wide open, Violet slowly peeked into the room she hadn't set foot in before.

Four bookshelves stood separate from each other, each one residing against the center spaces of the walls. Signposts hung out from each side of the shelves, showing where certain genre books were present. As for what amount of genres there were, eight was the number. There was: thin-to-medium length instruction manuals and wide mystery novels, height long and short tales of adventure and fantasy, picture collections of maps and well-illustrated drawings, and volumes of science fiction alongside sets of dictionaries.

A grape-themed carpet lay underneath the bookshelves, three corner positioned comfy chairs and lamps, and a horizontal placed table. Since its' shape was a flat square and was touching each bookshelf, Thing 2's heel-first shoes walked along it. After he went over to the science-fiction/dictionary bookshelf, he let his shoe-bottoms pat the spread mat. For some moments his sight looked over, and then passed by the many books of vocal language. Then he stopped his head from turning, his eyes from swiftly scanning, and let a foot give the ground a stomp. He pulled out the book he was looking for, and proceeded to go over to table with jolly springing legs.

With a quick pull out of a chair, he sat upon it and opened the dictionary. After skimming through what might've been the table of contents, he flipped through a few pages. He stopped and darted his pointer finger down, having it poke at the first line of noticeable words. Then as he began to read, his head tilted left and right in a soft level of excitement.

Violet had barely taken a second step forward before Thing 2 looked up, head turning fast as a lighting flash toward her. While she temporarily froze, his shoulders lifted and he greeted her with a friendly wave. Then as his eyes glanced to the chair on his left, he had his leg push it toward Violet. With drumming fingers he was about to reach into his sleeve, but he stopped the motion and instead beckoned the purple girl over.

Once Violet made herself walk over and sit, Thing 2 nudged the first half of the open dictionary to her. Then he pointed to the top of both pages, bringing her attention to the sole sentence they shared.

Thing 1 and Thing 2s' Gesture Dictionary!

As Thing 2 lowered his sight, so did Violet. What they saw was long-ago drawn images of gloved hands, there being six pairs in total divided between both pages. Each pair of hands had different poses, with there being boxes of text explaining what poses meant what. But before any of those text boxes could be read by her however, a blank card was set in between the pages, and then an approximant quarter of the dictionary was flipped through.

The next pages to be displayed pairs knee-high sock legs. Four pairs lay about the two pages, similarly to the how the six pairs of hands were placed. Also like the hands, the sock legs were holding continuous poses. The explanations were present as well, but no boxes concealed them, leaving the words to take up wiggly forms and some more space. Then like the previous page flipping, another card was injected and another quarter of the dictionary was passed by. And just as Violet got a brief look at what seemed to be faces, the next quarter of the book was turned, revealing cartoonish versions of Things 2 and 1.

The illustrated twin Things wore red jumpsuits sporting white circles with their names, had constant one-lipped grins being kind and matched, and shared a height of four feet. For the current seen pages, they were multiplied by three. One duo of Things resided on the up-most half of the left page, having hands flick away from the sides of their heads. The next were split between the middle of the bottom, having arms stick out with one thumb each being raised, and their heads nodding up. And then the last were positioned on the up-most part of the right page, with them both pointing one finger at themselves.

After letting and seeing her take in their cartoon forms, along with reading the wacky-font explanation text, Thing 2 half expected her blank outcome look. Although she wasn't emoting it, there was a question he knew she wanted to ask. So thinking ahead he got up, and back walked to the other side of Violet. Now standing off to her left, he clapped and rubbed his hands together. Then he spun around fully, opting to chance his stance.

As she saw him crouch down, hop right back up, and throw his arms up and out, Violet could only blink. When no attempt to pull out a card, and write out an answer to clarify anything, she glanced over to open 'dictionary'. Upon looking back at him, he used his chin to direct her attention back to the book. With eyebrows lowering, she did what he silently suggested. Finding no clarification for what he was doing on the current pages, Violet flipped onto the next.

While no answers were present, since the cartoon Things held no poses similar to his, Violet didn't immediately move onto the next pages. Instead she took some minutes to read what information was there. Then with a slightly reluctant drag of her fingers, she moved on. With the next set of pages, she gave the same amount of time into viewing, and understanding what the twins' poses meant. And then she turned the page, doing the same for the next set and beyond.

The poses made up of multiple gestures, minor motions that seemed to just be simple acting. But in reality, they were actually few-to-many possible layers of shown feelings. Showing: joy, frustration, confusion, appreciation, confidence, and more-so upturned emotions. The ways illustrated went beyond just creating expressions for your face, or just shaking your arms or legs in some direction. And it was due to seeing such a collection of actions-speaking-words that, Violet almost missed the specific gesture Thing 2 had made.

Although her lips parted after she read what the gesture meant, she didn't speak and instead turned the book toward Thing 2. After he leaned forward and looked, he nodded and gave one thumb up. Then as he spun about a second time, a series of hand movements played out. In response to three held up fingers, and two knuckles flying off to the side, her mind easily clicked with her fingers turning back half of the book. She went through a short search before finding the definition.

After that, within a few-minutes of time, a pattern emerged between Violet and Thing 2. With every following gesture performed, another text-definition was searched for and learned. With every act-defined, a word was given a meaning strung by physical form. And with every added word, a sentence that Violet considered to be confusion-filling, was built.

'"We would like you to have this book."'

The return of her blank expression, made Thing 2 stroll over. When he got as close as an outstretched arm, acted out another series of motions. Since a few of the gestures' definitions were already read, Violet took less time to figure out what he meant.

'"You don't like speaking or card-talking, maybe you can try this?"' Before she could even bat an eye, he constructed two more sentences to answer her more clearly. '"This can help you and us. If you like talking like this, we can do the same."'

Violet turned her head and the book away from him. She looked down at the cartoonish twin Things, seeing the great cheerfulness in their grins, and in their right-sided hand poses. A small while of deep-thinking moments came and went, having the purple girl drag her fingertips against the book edges. If anyone were to see her hunched over, face-down posture, they'd believe that she didn't know what to reply with. In reality unfortunately, she knew the what but didn't have a grasp on how.

So as she turned back to see Thing 2, she pushed the book over to him and hesitantly shook her head. He just raised his brows and poke the side of his head. He didn't understand what she meant, leaving her to point to the book and shake her head twice. That had Thing 2 hold his hands out after his wrists touched his shoulders, and shot them up to the height of his upper hair strands. '"Why?"'

She shook her head a third, fourth, and fifth time. '"Why no talking about Why?"' As she got up, Thing 2 did the same. Before she could take a single step to towards the door, he slid in front of her. Then he acted out more gestures, a few having not been defined by Violet. But at the end of them being acted out, she understood the summary of what he was saying.

'"Why are you being secretive? Why are you forcing bland emotions and faces? Why are you so distrustful?"'

Violet slammed both of her feet down, startling Thing 2 into stumbling back. An anxious glare, matched by a nasty frown, formed on her face. She kept them present to form a stare, as well as sent a message he'd better get. Then after holding her negative-tuned features up for long, she dismantled them swiftly. And with overbearing stomps, she shoved pass Thing 2, and slammed the door shut on her way out.

'Leave me alone' was her message, and she hoped he would do just that.

* * *

When dinnertime (that being the half hour of 5) came around, Thing 2 did not intend on leaving Violet alone. Seeing as she retreated back to her room, he went along into making and bringing her dinner. Carrying a warm bowl of sauce and noodles within his palms, he had knocked the door with the side of one foot. When she didn't open up the locked entryway, Thing 2 proceeded to shoe-knock over and over. He waited for a hearing of feet after every third knock, with silence being what met him in turn. He tried and tried, but every absence of polite reply made him slow and halt.

It was after his last attempt that he sighed, and placed the bowl next to the door. Then with sad weighted steps, he descended the steps and returned to the kitchen. That evening with Thing 1 being absent due to him being busy, Thing 2 ate alone with a gray-white cloud hanging over him. Throughout dinner he thought on about the recent failure, and the feeling of disappointment he wished not to endure. And at the end of eating, he smile greatly weakened and his shoulders slightly slumped.

The question of 'what to do' sped around in his brain, going as fast as any fast car. He pondered on options while cleaning up after himself. Then as he added his finished bowl to the grown pile of dishes, ones that he planned to wash by the first minute of the new day, he rubbed his lips together. He thought back the planed activities he and Thing 1 created, specifically thinking about the activities they'd haven't tried with Violet yet. From trying out a game of who ping-pong, to making an adventure out of traveling in Crooked Trees.

As he went over the list of activities, he gave the stack of dirty dishes a simple look. He eyed the stack top to bottom, thinking off to the side about what foods that he, Thing 2, and Violet had. Then he began to idly count them, doing the same for the ideas not tried. It was him doing that he noticed something off. A detail that no regular who would care for, as it was too small to be given attention.

The detail he noticed made him start back-stepping, his eyes staying on the dish stack. He continued going about like this until curiosity and worry tugged at him. With a hopping turn around, Thing 2 walked out into the corridor. Then he proceeded to head back up to the second floor. And upon reaching Violets' room door, he readied himself to hard-pat his knuckles against the frame.

The sight of the door being slightly open, along with the sound of a loud sniffle from inside, stopped him from knocking. In fact, he stopped himself from making any sound at all! He decided to carefully open the door a bit. And then he poked his head inward, not needing to look about as the source of the sniffle was easy to find.

Sitting with her legs crossed, Violet watched the unmoving bowl before her. Her hands creeped along her the sides of her legs, coming close to touching the bowl repeatedly with her knuckles. Her feet lightly pressed against the floor. And while her back was mostly facing Thing 2, he could tell she wasn't feeling any good.

Her whole showed appearance was disheveled, from her hair to her body shakily moving side-to-side. It gave the impression that she situated herself like, ever since she brought in her once warm dinner. This made him want to step in even more, to try talking with her again. But he didn't move any muscle, thinking that his presence being revealed would cause more bad than good. So he stayed there, having his head being the only thing moving.

Out from the corner of his eye, he saw a piece of glass sticking out from underneath her bed. Upon seeing that the covers were usually dipped over the edge, he got to look at what lies underneath the bed. What he saw was one plate, then two, then three, and before he knew it there was around a dozen of them. An alarm rung out in his mind, seeing as what he thought before was true. None of Violets' three, natural meal-plates were among the dirty stack in the kitchen. However, even though he knew where they've been kept now, he couldn't fathom why she'd keep them.

As he was left to wonder, Violets' moving hands caught his attention. He watched as she strangely stuck her finger into the pasta bowl, and then raised it up to her mouth. With a slow raising of her finger to her lips, she turned her head cautiously toward the door, making Thing 2 instantly pulled his head back out into the hall. He waited a minute, counting down the seconds as he listened for any loud noise. After the wait he looked back inside, seeing Violet had her head turned away from him, and both hands reaching for the bowls' content. The absence of the silverware he gave her bugged him, and her hands being pressed into the pasta was unsettling. What happened next unfortunately, after a short time of Violet examining her hands, was one of the most saddening occurrences Thing 2 had seen.

Violets' indifference was switched off at in moments' notice, and her emotions were unleashed in the form of desperation. Rapidly she lowered her mouth onto the red-sauce, and savagely sucked and bit it up. As pieces of the sauce started covering her purple face, from the bridge of her nose to her jaw, teeth marks began piling up, next to some possible others. Every last essence of sauce was eaten up like it was her last meal, like she wouldn't get no other any day after. And once her hands were absolutely clean, she drove them back into the bowl and ate away again.

Not that long after she began, her front-upper body managed to gain spots of red. Pasta was now on: her swelled cheeks, the neck area of her sweater, her pulled back sleeves, and her chest and her rather chubby stomach. No care was given for the mess she was making of herself. She just kept eating and eating. It wasn't out of genuine enjoyment, as her motions only displayed a depressing need. It was cruel and heartbreaking to watch, and Thing 2 wanted to stop it. But he didn't try, believing that if he'd interrupted her, a barrage of negativity and violence may be sent his way. And he did not want anything like that, to come from her like a rabid bat.

So with uneasy steps he backed away. Then after facing some difficulty looking away from the bedroom door, he headed back downstairs. Taking a sharp right, he walked toward the laundry room. He was going to discuss this development with Thing 1. Together they would find some full-working way, to help Violet truly open up instead of hiding herself away. And although true success seemed bleak in possibly happening, all Thing 2 needed to do to lift his spirit, was to give a certain button one press.

**"Good Job Son!"**


	7. A Real Surprise

There was no ceiling and no surrounding walls. No nearby or some-feet away furniture. No second bed, with no second pillow or sheet-set. No giant carpet and no floor. And finally, no source of light at all.

Violet woke up that morning to total darkness. Immediately she shut her eyes, and then bit her cheek to check if she was still sleeping. When it turned that she wasn't, she rolled over and launched an arm over to the right. She swiped at the air until she could feel the dresser. Then with hasty fingers, she pulled out the top drawer and searched through it.

Upon feeling the cup-candle and match box sitting side-by-side, she retrieved them both from the drawer. With a swift pull out of a match among few, and then a quick flick of tip against the box, the small stick became lit. Right after that the wick was given fire, leaving Violet to blow out the small stick. Then with the emerged candle flame, Violet hesitantly lowered her feet toward the darkness below. When she felt the surface of soft fabric meet her heels, she took that as a good sign for her to stand.

Holding the candle-cup up by resting its' bottom against her palm, Violet gradually moved forward. As she headed toward where she told the hall door was, she waved the light to the left and right. The occasionally flickering flame gave inches of the room, an odd illumination with each turn. Going from the green grass walls halves, to the ocean blue of the carpet, the contained blaze's glow replaced the shadow-covered morning colors with its own. The displays painted the image like the burning spread of fire, covering everything in a pointed direction with time being dire.

When Violet had found the hall door, she opened it up halfway. Then she stuck her head and candle-cup out, half-expecting to see more of total darkness. What she actually saw however, was two lights dim. The first was a dim yellow light of a candle, having a wall hook instead of a cup serving as containment. And the other being above, was a set of tiny, red and white bulbs made to give an arrow shape. And the pointed tip of the sign, was facing the direction of the stairs.

While using the wall railing as guided support, Violet carefully descended to the first floor. Although there was a continuous presence of majority darkness, another hook-candle and arrow of bulbs could be seen. This arrow was pointing to the front door, as well as the doorways leading to the dining and living rooms. There was actually faint orange glows projecting from the separate areas, and onto the corridor floor.

Seeing that neither of the two other paths had any light, Violet walked forward. She stopped herself right at the edges of the doorways, insisting herself on leaning her head out, and giving both rooms quick peeks. When she glances into the living room, she saw majority darkness, and two different lines of candles stuck in some round object. When she glanced into the dining room, she also saw majority darkness, along with five candles set on individual plates. There was however, two groups of somethings sitting near those candles, that alarmed and almost made Violet stumble as she opted to stare.

The two groups were separated into linear lines. The first group was made up of 21 plates, with the most of them having sets of silverware sitting on top. The second group was made up of notecards, with them containing details about one plate each. The details that were described were: what type of time each plate was served, what type of meal once resided on each plate, and how each meal was fully eaten by an eater who was alone.

While she had difficulty in not showing it, Violet was feeling fear. Her stashes of her licked-and-bit clean plates were found. Even though it was fact that it going to happen at some point, she didn't believe that the twin Things could find them. The very thought never once entered her mind, or even dared to start forming. But the moment was here now, making Violet scamper back into the living room.

Only when the back of her legs had met an end of a table, did Violet frantically turn away from the gathered stashes. Instinctively looking down, she saw the two lines of placed candles. The first line was made up of six candles, creating the number 1. The second line had the other seven, creating the number 3. If those single numbers made to be brought together, they'd make the number equal to the visible candles.

As she made that easy observation, Violet's mood started to shift. Her fear was slowly being replaced by interest and confusion. Her interest was prodded by both the number thirteen, and the apparent surface of frosting the candles were planted in. Her confusion was produced by newest question she thought of: Why are these candles here above this half brown, half yellow…cake?

Right before she could guess a sudden, loud smack of metal startled her. She looked to the source of what it came from, but a revealing flash made her shield her eyes. As she waited for the flash's effect to die out, a dual round of clapping reached her ears. When she lowered her arm, she couldn't help but pinch herself. What she saw before her, made her think that this was going to be a cruel 'prank', or some dream she hadn't waken up from yet.

All of the eerie darkness was destroyed, by a pleasant morning light shining through the window no longer covered. It revealed that there was a cake sitting on the table, its size being rather small, and its frosting appearing to be a chill divide of chocolate and vanilla. Next to the cake were: three paper plates, three sets of plastic forks and knives, two sets of cards with two ink-ready pens, and one Twin Things Gesture Dictionary book. A few classic balloons were tied to the ground by square-clip handles. A banner hung some feet down from the ceiling, baring a jumbled message that could be figured out, with simply a minute or two reading. And then standing on opposite sides of the table, were Thing 2 and Thing 1, now blowing bouts of confetti out from party poppers.

HAPPYTHIRTEENTHBIRTHDAYVIOLETBEAUREGARDE!

Violet pinched her cup-holding hand once, then twice, and then thrice. Each pinch became more harder then the last. She was trying to get out of this dream. That's all this was, some dream that would be gone in any second. Three, two, one and then comes the silent pop. And she'll wake up in one of the twin Thing's beds, needing to get ready for another neutral day.

When her pinches didn't work as intended, she was struck puzzled. The small birthday cake, the twin Things, everything apart of this celebration and here were all still in the living room. She couldn't, and she certainly wouldn't understand this. For her, three pattern pinches worked most of time when dealing with dreams. If they weren't working now, then this has to be one of those 'least' dreams. If her three pinches won't wake her up, then maybe shutting her eyes for a long time, or perhaps kicking her feet against the floor will work.

As she was about to try one of those two methods, some swift pulls of some cards from Thing 1's clothed sleeve halted her. T1: This was one of our back-page activity plans.- We didn't know when your birthday would be, so we thought of it as a what-if treat.- But after a certain amount of our success-fails, we got curious and examined some of your belonging like mail.

Thing 2 slapped his hands together, pointing a happily accusing finger at Thing 1. The motion made Thing 1 set the current cards aside, and then bring out a few more. T1: Instead of 'we', I was the one who did the search-through.- If you were wondering who put your cup-candle on the dresser, it was me.- I examined it, and saw that the bottom had some engraved info bits.

After that final card was presented and read, Thing 2 slid to left and walked back. Moving past the folding chair that was used to cover the window, he reached out and grabbed the chalkboard on wheels. He brought it over, making sure that the front board was seen. Then with the chalkboard situated in front of Violet, Thing 2 gave her a short welcome wave, and then sent a two-fingered salute towards Thing 1.

Grabbing one chalk piece of three, Thing 1 fully wrote out a specific date. The month was that of December. The numbered day was the placement equal to the letter H. Then the year was 1993. Together they formed the birth date of Violet Beauregarde. And to the girl herself, the fact that the twin Things knew that made her become tense.

T1: After thinking about and through some few guesses, we made a wide but not so far-fetch guess, about what these numbers meant. Even though the name set beneath the numbers wasn't yours, we took the chance that this day would mean more. As for why most of the house was dark, I suggested it. I thought that your curiosity would make you go investigate, and that the absence of any spark would improve this surprise.

Seeing as the chalkboard was now mostly covered by Thing 1's writings, Thing 2 brought out an eraser and got rid of them. After leaving only the birth date be untouched and present, Thing 2 received the chalk from Thing 1. T2: We know that for people like you, as well as for many whos, wrapped up gifts are given on these special days. But for us two things, we prefer gifts to be seen and not covered by strings. So let's start with the first!

Once he gave the chalk piece and eraser back to Thing 1, Thing 2 strolled over to the table's edge. He went down with a crouch, and pressed his hands against the book containing their gestures. He pushed it towards Violet, baring a small confide smile. Then he waited, for her to either reach for it, or to write out some response on a card. When she did neither of those actions, Thing 2 tilted his head.

Instead of getting a card and pen, he decided to open the book up for her. He skipped through some of the pages in the first section. As he stopped the fast page turning, he placed a blank card between the current pages. Then with a swift hand, he returned to flipping through the book. When he finally stopped the page turning, he had thirty or so cards stuck in the book, and let the sheets holding the first card be displayed.

Thing 2 rose up and jogged a few feet back. Then with a single clap from his hands, he struck a pose the girl found to be familiar. His fingers were entwined, and their tips pressed against the underside of his chin. His elbows were made to stick up. And he lifted one leg before pushing it out to the side.

Not exactly remembering what word that pose stood for, Violet looked down to the book and read the two pages. When she found the matching illustration and definition of his pose, she poked it and glanced at him. That made him immediately work out a different pose, leaving her to search for the definition. Not so long after that did Thing 2 performed a series of motions, creating a sentence that Violet had to connect piece by piece. After she did that in her head, she chose to write it out, and then showed it to the twins.

'"We really want you to have this."'

Once the twin Things gave nods, Thing 2 went on to do more gestures and poses. In the span of a few minutes, sentences covered the whole front of one card. With each dictionary-search she had to do, Violet was feeling tinges of frustration. With each sentence she wrote out, her building annoyance clashed with mixed disbelief and uncertainty. And with each bout her emotions stirred up inside, she found it more and more difficult to keep a indifferent face on.

'"We talk by doing gestures. We can still use cards, but gestures are easier. We want you to understand us, like how we want to understand you. If you want help studying the book, we can help by teaching you. We can get some paper, pencils, and go over one section half at a time."'

Violet was at a lost on how to feel inside. The twin Things talk by doing gestures? They are offering to help and teach her? She was finding it terribly easy to doubt these words, and to not. And with that she was starting to get uncomfortable chills, as well as having thoughts saying that this wasn't actually a dream.

Violet just stayed idle, merely looking back and forth from the twin Things. While Thing 1's soft smile faltered a bit, Thing 2 just walked over to her with a smile doing the opposite. When he reached Violet he patted the dictionary. Then he pointed to the spot the book was resting on before, making himself and her look down.

What had been residing underneath the dictionary, but was now free to be seen, was a one-page calendar for December. Days 1 to 7 were crossed off, with the rest of them being blank as empty space. On the sides of the snowy-themed background centered on a cabin, there were nearly unnoticeable sport balls. From the smallest of light-green tennis spheres, to the largest basket-meant globes were hidden in the image of heavy snowfall. And from that simple blinking of Violet's unfazed eyes, Thing 2 saw that she couldn't think up a reason for why the calender was there.

Picking up the one roll-up calendar with a swipe, Thing 2 slowly stepped out into the corridor. Firstly in a series of motions, he waved his hand around in the air, creating an imaginary bent line. Then as he held the paper out, he secondly had to fingers rise up. Thirdly he drew a square box, before adding a bow to the top. And finally he pointed at Violet.

'"It's our second gift to you."'

As Thing 2 back-walked into the kitchen, Violet and Thing 1 followed him. Although the purple girl understood what Thing 2 gesture-said, she was trouble with the reasoning. As she asked herself what and why would they give this calendar, she was distracted by Thing 2 heading directly toward the gathered plates. She didn't want to deal with what was about to come. The questions the twin Things would ask, would be ones she didn't want to answer at all. In honesty, she was considering on turning around, and running back up the stairs. But the faint sound of Thing 1's feet, as well as the shifting of his mechanical-operated arms, made her think twice.

Upon stopping at the dining table's edge, Thing 2 twirled around on his shoe-tips. Despite how Violet thought he'd look, there was no trace of hurt or disappointment in his expression. Instead his small smile increased size by three inches, and his cheeks were happily raised. And with a happy bouncing hand, he beckoned her to come over and stand near the other table edge.

As she cautiously marched to spot, Thing 2 held the calendar out by its front. As he pointed to the eight line-crossed days, he tilted his head to the three rows of gathered evidence. At his side, Thing 1 had pulled in the chalkboard on wheels. Then as Thing 2 became to gesture talk to Violet again, Thing 1 wrote what his twin was saying through expressing.

'"We were left dazzled by you eating tiny food bits. Each time we'd see you eat so little, our worry levels rose. No who or any novel human has ate with your lacked grit. Your strange habit had us pondering while tapping our noses, and our toes.

'"Last evening however we got to see, you sitting alone and eating away. You discarded any silverware and desperately ate like a hog. Dirtying your hands by dipping them into the pasta, and having your fingers smear the sauce on your face. It was a sad sight to see, watching someone not care if their throat gets clogged.

'"After we followed you wish and let you be, we scratched our heads and stomped our feet. We were going to help you, with even more focus and well spent time. But we need you to know, that is what we truly want to do. Not hurt you, not bother you, or make it seem that we are fleas. So we sat and thought during the night, before we got these dishes together, and jotted the details about your meals down."'

After Thing 1 erased the third set of Thing 2's sentences, a firm was raised to stop him from writing. Thing 2 looked to Thing 1 and shook his head. As a result Thing 1 pocketed the chalk, and pressed the eraser against his side. Upon seeing that, Thing 2 turned back to Violet. And then he approached her before crouching.

Thing 2 gently held his hand palm facing up, to Violet. He sent her a expression emitting a quiet request. She responded to it by pushing her own, slightly shaking hand out. It seemed like he wanted to shake or touch hands, for some odd reason. But when her fingers were inches away from touching his, he had the other, calendar gripping one tap at her thumb. And as she glanced at the sudden contact, she saw the rest of her fingers be tapped one by one.

As her eyes widened and her brows curved up, Thing 2 began patting away at her whole arm. When he reached her elbow, he brought the paper end down to her side. He tapped at the left, and did the same to the right. Then as he pulled the calendar-gripping hand away, he pointed to Violet's forced thin mouth. And with a swift poke at his own happy lips, he had them lower and form a upset frown.

After standing up and having his head lean right, his smile returned with three more inches of width gained. He jogged back to set some distance between himself and Violet. When that distance was made, Thing 2 pressed his shoe-tips down to the floor. Then with the rise and inward pull of his arms, he adopted a muscle-show pose.

When nothing but automatic blinks came from the purple girl, Thing 2 bopped himself on the head. He proceeded to hold his arms out, and spread his legs out as he descended. He performed one springy squat, before he jumped up with his rising arms. With the loud clap made by his connecting palms, along with his legs pulling themselves together, he got done with one jumping-jack. Then right that, to the surprise of both Thing 1 and Violet, he threw his legs forward and dropped to floor. But before his back could meet the floor, he pushed his palms down to the ground. Once that was done he had his knees shoot up. And then after he let his back greet the wood below, he pressed his knuckles against his elbows, and did a sit-up.

Seeing those three exercises be done once, along with a few more Thing 2 went on to do, made Violet feel lost. At first she was confused, but when he rolled over and did a push-up, she became bewildered. As she felt bewildered, he spun upward to his feet and started jogging around the table, making her become startled. As she felt startled, he grabbed one of the table's notecards and acted like it was a weight, making her switch over to feeling disbelief. As she felt that disbelief, he did a cartwheel and then one leg stretch, making a guessing clog in her mind turn. Then as he stopped in front of her, making his lips go wide enough to form a kind grin, her guessing clog made a spark. And it only took Thing 2 performing the 'We' gesture, to make that spark become a realization.

In this dream not seeming to be a dream, Violet believed Thing 2 was saying that they could help her exercise. They could help her with a possible schedule. They could help her by working out alongside her. They could help her with placing time limits, with what sets of activities to do, and just…help her help herself. And Violet thought this because Thing 2 pointed out how depressing she looked, as well as the width of her fingers and stomach, and showed that he could do a number of exercises.

The calendar, and the purpose of it shown, was her second gift. As she guessed and realized that, her indifferent mask was having cracks spread out. Her eyes began to twitch with moisture building. Her thin lips began to rub against each other, before they gradually separated. And her breathing, instead of being hollow of sound, had its volume and pace increase.

She didn't understand this. Why would the twin Things want to help her? Why are the twin Things being 'nice'? Why is there no abrupt end to this fake event? Why aren't there any tricks being pulled? Why isn't there any traces of decent in Thing 2's happiness?

She had bombarded her mind with these questions, with there being a persistent thought that this was a fantasy. However, in just the span of seconds, the bombardment stopped as she attempted to speak. At her first try, all that came from her mouth was a weak mumble. At her second try, she managed to fight through half of forcefully made vocal barriers, making her mumble tumble into a stutter. And then at her third and hardest try, all barriers that she broke once days ago, were shattered by a raised whisper of: "Why?"

Thing 2 let himself grin, and replied with: '"Our third gift will explain."'

Just as Violet took his gesture words in, Thing 2 suddenly wrapped his arms around her. Then with his arms giving a tight squeeze, and his feet hopping, he gave the girl a hug. In the few precious moments that passed, she could feel what the hug wasn't and was. It wasn't weak, cold, some false display, or a mean trick. It was strong, warming, true, and very kind. But most of all to her, it wasn't a dream.

She drove away the cynical questions, deciding to let clear positives reside in her mind. She stopped wearing her neutral mask, letting drops and lines of tears leave her eyes. Instead of just standing there with her arms being limp, she returned the embrace she was glad to have received. This morning birthday surprise, these simple gifts from the twin Things, and the hug of kindness were all not some dream or fantasy. They were all real. And it was due to that beautiful fact that, Violet Beauregarde let her emotions be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I planned to have this story done by this day, but common complications made me get rid of any deadline. And while this other bit is more of a message then any note, I believe it needs to be said: Happy late New Years readers! That is all!


	8. Obstacles of Instinct

After standing by and idly watching for a long while, the metal-armed who numbered 1 out of two stomped. As his twin and Violet looked his way, his heels clapped. With a slide and spin around, his arms latched onto the chalkboard. And then with pitter-patterning shoe-feet, he hastily returned to the living room.

Once Thing 2 and Violet followed him through the doorway, Thing 1 spun around to face them. With a sharp dive and pull out of a pocket, the chalk piece was brought out like a shooting rocket. Then with the chalk firm in his metal grasp, he swiftly wrote away. T1: Now that we two whos have presented our three gifts to you, it is time to reveal the fourth. This gift can be accepted or declined, with the latter option hurting us somewhat in kind. But seeing how you've reacted so far, you may like these ideas crafted from our mind jars.

What we present to you is a plan, made up of three parts. Each part will happen during a different time of day, and will transpire some time after each day meal. When each appropriate time comes, I will describe what must be done.

Once the wall of text was erased by rapid swipes, Thing 1 drew two circles. They both had one word scribbled in. The one on the left had 'No', while the one on the right had 'Yes'. As Thing 1 pulled a pointed stick out from behind the chalkboard, and held the stick out for Violet to grab, it was obvious why the circles were drawn.

Even though Violet had her mouth open, no words were able to easily flow out. So she took the stick, and gave herself a few moments to think. Then when her thinking was done, she pushed the stick's pointed end toward the 'Yes' circle. Right after it pressed against the circle, Thing 1 abruptly pulled the stick up and away. Then without present care he threw it behind him, and proceeded to erase and write.

T1: Then let the making of breakfast begin, and our fifth and final offer gift be demonstrated.

Once that message was given time to be read, Thing 2 sprung up with a jump. He snapped his fingers and clapped his hands. He gave Thing 1 a thumbs up, and gave a nod to Violet. Then he placed his arms against his sides, with knees sticking up slightly. And after doing one fast starting twirl around, he went on to spin out of the room.

Two slamming metal hands startled and attracted Violet's curious gaze. The Gesture dictionary was pushed her way, the pages being swiftly flipped through. When the intended page was found, Thing 1 retracted his arms. He pushed the chalkboard to the side by some inches, allowing him to slide over and stand directly opposite of Violet. Then he crouched down, pointed at each side of the birthday cake, and had his eyebrows rise.

Needless to say, Violet looked at and read the currently displayed pages, along with some others. '"This cake contains a mix of two flavors."' Then the chalk was brought back to the board T1: Chocolate and Vanilla, the both of them being some common flavors in candies and sweets. And although their combo may contain high levels of sugar, any who or hue can reduce a serving size to equal a small treat.

Thing 1's left hand picked up one knife of three. Instead of having the cutting tool down into the cake, he had it hover inches above with ease. The motion of creating slices was performed, with the air being used as a substitute. Eight pieces were made from the imaginary cake. And as seven were left untouched, one was put onto a pretend plate.

T1: From the first day of your stay, you were fed full course meals. But due to your situation reveal, 'we' have decided that a switch was what you required. You will eat like us twin whos, our serving sizes being equal to small door seals. And with that you can start down your exercise path, having one step be acquired and not desired.

Just as the last word was read, a sudden ping came from the kitchen. In a matter of some moments, a short cart driven by Thing 2 sped into the room. Before the small transport could charge more toward the wall, he slammed both of his shoe-feet down. He pulled back on the long handle, in which caused his arms to stretch quite a bit. Fortunately his attempt to stop the cart was met with success, leaving him able to let go and hop to the side.

Picking up one of two spatulas sitting on the cart-top, Thing 2 shoved it's plastic flipper underneath one of few present 'patties'. Although the shape was similar to the meat from a burger, the general make up of it was all green and white. The green were the leaves of a salad, while the white were strips of pale bread. They were wrapped together, entwined like how some branches of a tree would be. And while that combo, as well as it's general look were weird, it carried a splendid sweetness that tickled excitement for taste buds.

The salad-bread patty, as Violet had decided to name it at the moment, was given from Thing 2 to Thing 1. Once the patty was placed against one of the metal prong-fingers, the spatula was instantly retracted. As the salad-bread patty sat in Thing 1's grasp, he had his metal grasp tighten enough to give the patty a short squeeze. And then the patty was brought above a plate, and dropped it like a sack of weights.

T1: The food you see before you is commonly known as a Sared. As you can tell, it is a vegetable and bread mix patty. Even though there is no meat to certify the label, the salad here had grown into forming a similar shape. Meaning that most of this meal is a vegetable, with the bread strings being well-crafted additions.

Now concerning the amounts of: Calories, sugar, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other nutrients, I can confirm that overall a Sarad is good to eat. If you are wondering about specific numbers, they are 100-

A simple clap from Thing 2, ended the speedy scribbling just as it began. When Thing 1 looked his twin's way, both of his brows steadily rose and his mouth formed into a small frown. When his twin pointed to the board, the frown lowered and spread. One half of the board was covered by long, lengthy jumbled sentences. During his fast-pace chalk writing, Thing 2 hadn't bothered to let any words have decent spacing.

As his twin's eyes gave him a narrow stare, Thing 2 threw his arm out to the right. He had his hand lay on the air, his palm facing downward. Next he opened his mouth, letting it go on to say nothing. Upon each syllable that was silently pronounced, he started pulling his held out arm back towards him. Then when he made his arm turn and face the opposite direction, he had it fling right back into it's previous position.

Thing 2 had that process play out once more. When his arm had started flying back around, he made it shoot up. His knuckles gave his forehead a knock, and he rubbed his sleeve against his nose. Then he made his hands clap again. And with them both performing a flick of their wrists, he had both hands point all their fingers at Violet.

After giving Violet's questioning gaze, his kindly smiling twin, and the chalkboard concentrated looks, Thing 1 eventually nodded. While he went on to drag the eraser across the board, Thing 2 snapped his fingers in order to get Violet's attention. A second 'Sarad' was plopped onto the plate nearest to her. Then said plate was pushed to her. And for a short while, the purple girl just gave the patty a uncertain look.

When the twin Things both had a Sarad to eat, Violet decided to watch and see how the patties tasted to them. For Thing 2, his first taken bite caused his near-brown eyes to light up with glee, and for his eating pace to grow from being slow. For Thing 1, his first taken bite caused his frown to turn and rise into a smile. Unlike Thing 2 however, Thing 1's feelings did not ascend. He just gave the mostly cleared chalkboard and his twin glances, his lips forming a serious down-settled line.

Taking in their different reactions with a sharp breath, Violet grabbed a knife and fork. As she aimed to cut out a small piece, a quick tremble causes both of her hands to halt. An instinct action that had been built up long ago, and had been followed through numerous times, wanted Violet to play out once again. It was made into being a normal thing to do, just like her wearing an indifferent expression throughout any day. It was the act of eating nothing but tiny snippets of food, in front of and around others.

As that instinct was meeting slim resistance from her, a gloved finger gave her thumb a poke. Upon lifting her gaze, she saw Thing 2 performing the gesture meaning 'We'. Then he went on to: bring his arms down dismissively to cut the air, drum his fingertips across the sides of his head, point at her, pretending to scoop food into his mouth, and increased the rate of his imaginary eating from slow to a nature pace.

Violet didn't need to give the gesture dictionary a quick read-through. What Thing 2 had said was obvious. '"We don't mind you eating naturally."'

Despite how simple that message was, it had produced a nice relief feeling for Violet. It also gave her the help she needed, an extra against the instinct attempting to control her. With that push, the instinct was sent away into the back of her mind. At the same time, the trembling her hands underwent slowed into becoming distant twitches. And as an overall result, she was given freedom from taking long bites of the tiniest crumbs.

The decent size piece of salad and bread was cut out. With no hesitation Violet forked it into her mouth. Then after tasting and chewing the piece for some moments, she swallowed the leftovers while bearing a smirk. It wasn't as bad as she thought it'd be. And being able to eat normally, or as close to normal anyone could eat, provided her with a feeling of refreshment.

* * *

At the swift departure of his twin, and the driven cart carrying empty plates, Thing 1 returned to the chalkboard. T1: STEP 1 is Finding a sparkling joy schtick. Now before you form the obvious question, as many whos had asked it once, a sparkling source is a phrase having to do with activity. The phrase itself was made by us two Things, and it means: A bright, happy hobby.

It can be small, or it can be large in helping time pass by. It can be tiny, or it can be big in making your brain run. And it can be ant-sized, or it can be giant-sized in giving your legs movement work.

Right after Thing 1 had finished writing, his twin came sprinting on into the room. As his arms were stretched out behind him, he turned around and flopped down onto the couch. Hopping lightly from his energetic drop, he gave Thing 1's word-work a look over. Upon reading it all, he bopped his head up and down enthusiastically. And then using a clenching hand, he dug into his pockets.

In a few moments his gaze brightened and his smile slightly widened. He threw his hand up, letting it's newest possession go. The amber ball that he'd tossed about days ago, or perhaps a natural copy, was allowed to bounce against the table. It bounced one, twice, and thrice as it seemed to head toward Violet.

Before it could slow into performing a roll, Thing 2 caught and pulled the ball back into his hold. With the upward flock of his wrist, the small sphere was tossed into the air. As it fell onto his other hand, he sat up and tilted his head toward the board. After giving his twin a glance, Thing 1 saw the motion as a cue. And then he began to write, his pace being multiplied by two.

T1: To any who or hue that may look upon the ball, they may feel no excitement be caused. It'll be seen as a simple object, an item of useless boring times. But upon a second or third look, any who or hue may find an opposite meaning being true. As for something being merely inches high, can be of use like any lucky dimes.

Without any sign or warning, Thing 2 had threw the ball onto the table. It bounced and headed forward toward Violet, with no interruption coming to make it halt. No hand was raised or curved from the girl to catch the sphere. So it had jump onto her knee, then her shoulder, and was left to fall down onto the carpet ground.

One of Thing 1's extendable, prong claws was sent to retrieve the ball. Afterward he handed the sphere to his twin. Then they proceeded to look at the purple girl, their gazes adopting curiosity. From the very first moment the ball was brought out, her eyes had remained fixated on it. And within those dark irises, resided an awakened caution.

Taking that detail into mind, Thing 2 decided to bounce the ball back to her. When the ball had jumped from her knee, and missed touching her shoulder, he could see her head flinch, and almost move her hand to catch the sphere. Then as she turned her head and watched it hop on, she didn't pay no attention to the extending arm of Thing 1. Only when the three prongs had carefully grabbed the ball, did her sight shift from the rubber to the metal. But after the arm had retracted, and the ball was given back to Thing 2, she went back to staring.

Thinking ahead in this situation, as this uneasy behavior from her was becoming familiar, Thing 2 shot up into standing. With consideration knocking from in his mind, he walked some steps around Violet. As he watched her, he saw her eyes switching from studying the ball he held at his side, and then his dark-orange irises. The cautionary presence rose and fell, just as her sight did the same in an opposite order. There was a reason why some fear appeared, and took shelter in those orbs of hers. And since she hasn't opened up such a reason, something else had to be done.

After a few hard pondering moments, Thing 2's eyes lighten up. He proceeded to throw the amber ball toward the ground. Having his hand snatch it up from a bounce, he went on to let it go. Then he began a easy process, simple catching and releasing the sphere. As he did this he tilted his to the right, and then to the left. And then he gave his twin a glance, followed by him winking one and then the other.

Thing 1 sent Thing 2 a nod, and had just started to stomp forward. The strong force of said stomps, made Violet break focus and turn away. Then as Thing 1 stopped, Thing 2 had performed only one heavy step. When Violet looked back to him, the amber ball was thrown her way. And on instinct she ducked, letting the ball fly right into Thing 1's held out hand.

As she sat up, she sent Thing 2 a confused look. However the look and it's direction changed, as the ball just soared near and pass her cheek. Surprise took a place in her gaze, while Thing 2 let soft delight form in his like a blaze. Then with sliding shoe-feet he exited the room, giving his twin and her the chance to trail behind. And it was exactly that they did, although the who of them two was a bit more slower.

Reaching the halfway point in walking the corridor, Thing 2 stopped and spun around. He threw the ball down and toward Violet. Seeing as it was bouncing and not flying onward, a instinct once broken before wanted her to move aside. As the ball got closer and closer, she was itching herself to do what she automatically thought. But during the ball's final bounce , she decided to act differently.

In a fluid motion her palm was pushed out. Her fingers had spread out as far as possible. Her wrist was lowered ever slightly. Then as she felt the rubber meet her palm, she caught and squeezed the sphere in her grasp. With some hesitation she twisted her hand around, getting a clearer look at the sphere. And at a gradually pace, the alertness that she harbored melted away.

The corners of her lips had started to turn up, but a glove hand swiping the ball made them part in shock. She looked to see Thing 2 jogging backward. He stopped beyond the length of two arms. Then he wore a short smirk, and held the sphere out while having his wrist shake.

From what Violet could see, he was taunting her. As a result a temptation was building up inside. It was a temptation that felt like a swirling jolt. She'd pushed it away, and smacked aside before. The number of times being many, but recently there has only been one. And now, as her eyes were on the ball, she thought that it wasn't what needed to be pushed.

Darting forward with one arm stretched out, Violet attempted to grab at the amber ball. Thing 2 merely slid to the right, making her grasp nothing but air. She tried to grab the sphere once, twice, and nearly at got it at her thrice try. Every reach from her was opposed by Thing 2 raising, then lowering, and actually pretending to toss the ball over to Thing 1. And not long after did Violet play out a fourth, fifth, and many more attempts.

The rapid exchanges of reaches, open space clenches, and quick pulls had lead Thing 2 and Violet near the hand-street sign. They went back and forth, almost matching each other in speed and stretch ability. There had been a handful of close chances of changing roles, with them coming and going as quick as snowfall. At one point Thing 2 had flipped, landing and scurrying away on his hands while the ball sat on his shoes. And at other point Thing 2 had resulted to jumping from wall to wall, startling and irritating the purple girl who gave chase.

Somewhere amidst the game taking place, the amber ball had fallen from Thing 2's ownership. It took the him and Violet, who were now standing a few feet from each other, some moments to realize the that sphere was gone. They didn't need to spend any time looking however, as a metal and a shoe taking steps draw their attention. They see Thing 1, standing on one of his legs, and on one of his lower metal arms. And within his upper right, metal three pronged fist was the circular objective.

A odd presence of silence had settled in. In the time that ticked on, the twin Things gave each other different expressions. While Thing 1 was looking deep in thought, Thing 2 was concerned. The second numbered of the two gestured for the ball back, and the first numbered was swaying from side to the other. Nothing had occurred for some passing seconds, deepening the quiet into a feel of unsettling.

Then after the blink of two pairs of eyes, the stay of silence was shattered. The ball was tossed up into the air, a laidback smile finding it's way onto Thing 1's lips. His twin and Violet gave that sight of simple joy a moment's notice, before they looked up to the ascending sphere. In haste they both rushed forward, the who of the two going for a dive. And that move had fortunately provided Violet an advantage.

Launching herself up just at the right time, Violet managed to hop on and off of Thing 2' back. As he was made to fall, she had risen and was closing in on the prize. No interruption had stopped her hands from wrapping around the sphere. Then with smart thinking coming to her mind, she pushed her shoes down. And upon reaching the wooden floor, Violet didn't crash and landed on her feet.

After enduring some small bout of stumbling, Violet glanced down at the ball sitting in her palms. Seeing it almost made her her hands twist, and let it fumble out. But she's able to find steadiness, and keeps her eyes trained on the sphere. As she centers it on one palm, she gradually turns around. Then from some place inside chest, a zap of warmth bursts out in the form of sound.

As she begins to tremble, Violet Beauregarde finds herself chuckling. It's tone starts off being sweet, and then barrels out into being grateful. With that gratefulness her chuckles transform, becoming giggles that cause her to wipe her forehead. Her volume increases with every five giggles, it eventually reaching the peak right before she could produce laughter. She goes on and on, feeling nice tremors affect all of her limbs.

Right as she sees the twin Things however, she fully forces herself to stop. The both of them are watching, and have their respective hands hanging at their sides. Violet make herself wait, carefully looking from one to the other. They both just tilt their heads, with Thing 2 baring a bright and truthful smile. And nothing that her instinct makes her think will happen, ever transpires.

"Heh." Giving the ball a gentle squeeze, Violet lets herself freely giggle again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I apologize to you readers for this month long delay. The Winter season hasn't been that much of an inspiration, as well as thinking about and making plans for my other stories has halted me. Not to mention writer's block has been a big bummer. However I'm back, and I hope to get the next part of this up in a week. And also thank you all for reading up to here, as I'm glad that people find interest in this concept here.


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